Defender brake light/side light problem

Hi folks,
Wanted to let you know of a recent problem found on my 2010 Defender County.
For no apparent reason this week, , the side lights came on (front and rear) whenever the foot brake was applied. I checked that the sidelights worked correctly front and rear when turned on which appeared to be the case The brake lights also worked when applied when sidelights were switched off. Did a bit of reading on this type of site and got some tips then got a test meter and screwdriver and went to work suspecting an earthing or wiring insulation problem. What I found when I removed the bulbs from both rear lights was that the bulbs were ok, but the contacts within the bulb holder on both sides looked very close to touching each other and looked like they were slightly twisted......possibly due to the insertion of the bulbs? Volts checked out ok on both terminals i.e side lights and brake lights on both sides so I removed the bulb holders and adjusted the terminals in the bulb holders to increase the separation. Reinserted bulbs to holders and all now working ok..........so wierd ....like the refs actions at the end of the Australia-Scotland game!!

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/introduce-yourself-section.260578/

People like the "Introduce yourself" section to be for you to err umm introduce yourself, not your problem. However in this case you'll probably get away with it.

The "problem" with your lights is nothing new or weird, in fact it's quite well known when dealing with dual filament bulbs, dual filament bulbs require three contacts to work.

What's happening is the contact between the body of the bulb which should be connected to the ground loses contact with the bulbholder body. The current for the brake light then finds its way to ground through all the side and tail light bulbs.

Remedy; always give the inside of the bulbholder body a bit of a clean up with emery cloth when fitting new bulbs