A plastic pipe has sheared off inside Lickle Red's engine. Mechanic thinks, since it happened just up the road from work, that the head gasket might be OK. He's going to bring the new part to work tomorrow night and fit it there, then he'll put water in and if it holds he'll drive it back to his garage. I offered to pay for a flatbed to collect it but he said no.
Fingers crossed please everybody, send good thoughts into the universe that he'll be OK and that it's only going to cost a couple of hundred quid.