Ok, no time to fix it and as it looks so scruffy anyway it has been sent to dishwasher-heaven. I couldn't bear washing up any more (blimey, how lazy have I become?? :-) so a trip to Bluewater and a Miele machine should be delivered on Thurs.
It was a toss up between the near bottom end Miele (646SC) and a near-top-of-the-range-lights-and-gadgets-for-everything Siemens. Both a touch under 500 squid. Miele one based on the theory that less gadgets the more reliable it should be and based on the fact that I only really used one program on the old machine 9 seemed a little OTT.
Interestingly, both come with a 5 year warranty which is promising. Some of the Miele Washing machines come with a 10 year warranty. 500 quid over
5 years (at least) gives me clean dishes for under a couple of quid a week. Well worth it :-)Cheers for all the advice. Several people emailed me to say Bocsh or Miele. Some had problems with Bosch control panels - everyone who emailed me about Miele was completely happy.
As a slight warning. 3 people emailed about Indesit machines - all recommended that I did *not* buy one!
Cheers,
Darren