Thanks all so far. It's a 2011, reasonably low mileage, and been in the family since about 6 months old.
Up to a point I'm taking my mechanic's word that the rad isn't blocked. But the other day when I was testing it but driving up and down the motorway, then idling for 5 or 10 minutes, it was overheating (and the bottom pipe staying cold) then suddenly it got hot.
The stat has been changed once already, that's why I've not yet got back to it. I think you found the right version of car (believe it's Mk 7) Full Chat but I can't find the same. In earlier cars the HCV is in the engine compartment. I have found a YouTube on overheating Fiestas of the right vintage and it has a couple of easy checks of resistors and fuses which I'll also look at (but they seem to involve the fan not working, but it is).
I believe it was Eurocarparts who raised the query whether there is a valve, when the mech called them to order it. Having just spent a while on YouTube I think the flaky bit is now known as Blend Door Actuator, but this seems less likely to be the problem in the Mk7.
The car has been regularly Ford serviced so I'd hope that the coolant has been checked/changed correctly. From memory it looks OK, but I will check.
I think the fact that the coolant surface was "active" at tick-over was what led them to believe the pump is OK.
I'm going over to see him this afternoon and will ask about the rad. I wish I was more handy myself, and had proper tools and work area etc, as a lot of this is quite basic spannering and isn't far out of my scope. but as it is I am paying him quite a bit (though nothing like Ford prices!) to do the basics.
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