Thanks-My Breakdown cover doesn't cover at home (think I'll reconsider next time

). I decided to book Halfords to replace the battery ( before I read your post to ring around to see if any would check charge

)...I had checked various sites, their price seemed competitive, and everything on here indicated it was the battery....I had thought Halfords website said they would check it is a battery issue first but the guy was like ' nope, we have nothing in the van to check, it's at your discretion...' eek...but he showed me that the green light on the new battery was showing as black on the one in the car. And I'd gone through all paperwork for the car and couldn't find anything to indicate the battery had ever been replaced.
Long story but good outcome, it was the battery... car started, messages gone, even stop/ start seems to be working for a change



.
So thanks again to the info on this site, managed to resolve issue.
Annoying there was no warning about the battery... just suddenly cutting out like that..