The tailgate on my 56 plate zafira will not open externally,went out shopping lifted t/gate ,arrived home t/gate refuses to open,checked fuse No8(same as rear washer seems to be ok),opening it manually from inside at the moment,any suggestion please

Same thing happened to myself when it was really cold weather. It was when I tried to use my washers & they were frozen up, fused & we had to change out the fuses. We replaced 10 amp fuse & everything worked again all okay. Check ur washer motor is working, u should hear the motor when u press for the washers to work. If u don't hear this then it sounds like same problem as myself. My husband replaced the fuse with a 10 amp, although it was just originally a 5amp fuse that was fitted. We checked with the garage & they said this was ok but don't use anything above 10 amp. Can I just ask if your zafira a petrol or diesel model, as I am experiencing some noise problems with my Astra 1.7 cdti ecoflex & I have been advised by Vauxhall specialist that the zafira has similar noise issues!!