Appreciate the helpful responses.

It went back to the shop today. 3 weeks until I see her again. At least the light should be a bit better by then.

Weird thing happening.

Camera was last used on Monday with no problem. It's been sitting happily in the bag in comfortable surroundings since then. Admittedly, the batteries were still in which is poor form, I know.

Tried switching on this AM - nothing. Figured discharged battery to be the problem so switched to another set of rechargeables. As soon as the battery cover was closed the flash popped up accompanied by a rapid and repeated firing of the shutter mechanism for about two seconds.

Tried a different set of fresh standard batteries and the same thing happened.

Has anyone else encountered this ? Is there an obvious solution ? Is my camera sick ?

I have checked the manual but cant find anything that can explain this behaviour.