The fuel filler cover (the plastic bit on the outside) has come detached from its mounting. (the car is 5dr 54reg) I suspect that a plastic lug is broken but its hard to see for sure. Does anyone know any easy remedy? or will we just have to get a new part and then get it painted . It looks to me like the wheel arch needs to come out to access the fittings and maybe the boot lining too.

You can disassemble the hinge mechanism without removing the wheel arch. Then I suggest you take it to a professional body shop. I did this and they had some amazing bonding material which stuck the parts back together. Re-assembly on the car is a bit fiddly, but once achieved, I never had another problem. BTW keeping the hinge well lubricated helps avoid breakages.

My mate had an early stilo, the petrol cover broke off. Turned out it was a fault in the design and you could get it replaced under warranty. At the time I saw lots of stilos with missing petrol covers.

Might be that.

They actually changed the hinge to plastic on later models so you dont get the hinge sieze as quick as the ones made of metal..unfortunatly you still have to lub it as yellow peril said..

Thanks for the responses guys. Ours is all plastic so we will have a go. It looks like the fitting needs 3 hands so my assistant will be called in to help.