photo dont show how knackered looking this actually is

Was this run on DC

didnt pay too much attention to the fitting, it looked like a coughtrie, but had a printed circuit driver, with a load of rechargeble batteries in it too, is the fact its been driven on DC then if thats the case the reason its black one end?

Sounds like a fitting I've got I'll upload it when I've had my food . Yeah low voltage / DC can kill tubes in a crack. The low voltages under drives the tubes severely which causes the emitter to splutter on to the inside of the glass which then comes up as the black and stains you see here

ar, right, i see. Not seen many tubes ran on DC to comment on it really

If you see an emergency light with s tube in with black ends that's why