GET LOOOOOW PUPA STEVE!!!!

so its not head gasket then , thats something, i supose it depends how hard it is to change water pump if necessary

mine did i similar thing before i changed themostat /water pump (mine was leaking allot)

would just chuk out the coolant

changing the pump isnt too bad a job. i had mine replaced a couple of months ago. Its located under the belt tensioner on the left of the engine. The only trouble they had replacing mine was that that the old one had welded itself to the block and my m8 said they had to use a pry bar and a sledge hammer to knock it off But hopefully like you say it mite be just the thermastat. Had a problem with that to on the C but mine was stuck open rather than closed. weird thing about it though is that it fixed itself last month going to replace it just in case though

He brought it back with him to show me how totaly fooked the old pump was .The spindal was severly loose which was leaking coolant and one of the fins had broken off

Sounds a bit more positive, you can normally tell with thermostats once they start going but my experience has always been stuck slightly open so the vehicle does not regulate properly and actually warm up.
Does it warm up normally and then just carry on getting hotter?
Is the water an OK colour and the oil clean too?

To be honest theres no coolant in it at the mo, as im not using it im getting new stat and housing plus seals and replacing on sunday! hopefully all will be good...