Maybe get your boyfriend to do it! :P

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Fortunately I have been able to source a rattle gun to use so should only take me a couple minutes now.

Should have no worries with a rattle gun, I just removed the strut out of the car, chucked them in the boot of my other car and ran them to the nearest workshop and borrowed their rattle gun.

Thought of investing in one, but don't have a compressor and the electric ones seem pretty expensive.

Finally had success with mine. Noticed some holes in the top hats and that the damper shaft did have flats on it that meshed with the top had. Found a big rigging wrench with a similar hole in it too. One bolt in both holes and a long lever on the end of my wrench and apart it came. Took long enough! Now on to the next rebuild challenge :)

 

Cheers folks

The holes in the hat are actually for a specialised tool... no idea where you would get one though.