Further update. I edited the /etc/rc.local and used the code:

xboxdrv –trigger-as-button –id 0 –led 2 –deadzone 4000 –silent &
sleep 1

When I launched a ROM. WE HAD SUCCESS! Xbox controller worked great. Had a spot of Double Dragon and Mario. Brilliant! Just before I was going to mark this as solved I decided to reboot, just in case…

Now the controller won’t work in emulationstation at all, not even to change between the emulators and choose a ROM and strangle enough, neither does my usb keyboard now. Although Alt+F4 still allows me to access the console.

How odd…