l have had a couple of quotes but not sure how much is a reasonable price? Also the mechanic who found the problem said it is ok to drive as its running ok, then he showed me the gunk inside the engine! Can l really drive it like that?!

weigh the cost of the replacment head gasket up against the value of your car first.
when your head gasket goes it can do all sorts of damage to your engine even as far as needing to get a reconditioned engine.
sorry for the bad news.
my best advice would be to not drive the car and make sure you use a mechanic that you can trust.

dependind on which engine your is fitted with somewhere around £400.

He showed u the gunk inside the engine. You have answered ur own question.

Ask the repair shop what their hourly repair fee is. Multiply by 5 hours work. Add 25 euro for gasket, cost of 5 liters antifreeze, & taxes. That is all. Replacing the Head bolts is recommended but NOT absolutely necessary.

The gunk is a little water mixing with the oil. This means u have a small break in the head gasket. This break will get bigger & bigger, quickly, & u will have loss of power, white smoke (water mixing with petrol) & maybe black smoke (oil mixing with petrol).

Please, the gasket is only 20 pounds? & the labour is 5 or 6 hours. It is EASY AS PIE on a Peugeot 206. Nothing is difficult, it is just time comsuming. And easy. A friend with good tools & an instruction book could do it.

Please do not drive ''like that''. Your car will get worse & harder to fix as time goes by. l wish every young woman had an intelligent grease monkey boyfriend.

l would not advise driving it.

Parts and oil/antifreeze about £100(put a new belt and tensioner on at the same time). Head skim roughly £50 depending where in the country you are.

Labour roughly 8 hours, so saying £35 an hour you would be looking at £280.

Total cost £430.

Should cost the same as a decent Ford or Honda.

About 600 euro