Not HGF two weeks before Christmas... please!

Drove three miles on the way to work this morning and realised there was no hot air coming through the heaters. Looked at the temperature gauge and it was hovering just below the red line at the top!



Pulled over, checked the expansion bottle (which let out an almighty plume of steam at the same time) which was of course empty.



At the same time as nearly steaming me to death, something dropped its load of coolant all over the floor once the pressure had been lost:







Looked into the now clear expansion bottle and found:







Managed to put some coolant back in (I always keep a bottle of it in the boot) and limp home. Of course, on the way back the temperature gauge crept back up, but then went back down to normal, possibly because the engine bay fan kicked in though.



Once parked up at home, I did notice a gurgling noise in the engine bay, and couldn't see any coolant running down the block, or evidence of it.



So, my question is, before I assume the worst, could it be ANYTHING else which would cause this issue? The car was fine the night before, although I didn't check the coolant, it was nice and warm all the way home from work (20 mile drive).



What could have caused a load of coolant to spill once the pressure was released? Surely that can't have all come from the HG? Split pipe due to the cold would be my initial guess, if I hadn't seen the small remnants of sludge in the water.



The dip stick looked clean too. :confused:



Thanks for any insights you can provide!

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