Securing clothes rail to ceiling

[foxhole]

If you use hollow wall anchors as suggested you will need to drill out the holes in the bracket to accept the larger screw size.
You can set them with a claw hammer and spread load with flat piece of timber.
The screw in plasterboard plug you struggle with are only for plasterboard on studs as they require a large cavity behind ( far more than you get with dot and dab).
They are not ideal for load in the ceiling much beyond a light fitting as they are intended for walls with load at 90 degrees to plug.

 

[motorbiking]

I actually have a load of these in the shed, but I have found when fixing them into the wall, they leave such a bl00dy mess in the wall. Is there an art to getting them in without making the wall such a mess?

push hard, turn slowly using a drill driver.

but now you've said you can get above, your best option is to cut a noggin and fit between the rafters, then long screws in to the noggin.

 

[jc69817]

Why not move the bracket along the rail till you can find a joist. It doesn’t have to be in the centre