Is it a clutch failure ?

Afteroon all, hoped for some advice on a problem with the car.

Firstly allow me to set the scene of my "adventure" on friday evening. I was driving home on the A12 just outside Ipswich, coming off a roundabout when I discovered I could not get the car into any gear. This led to me coasting to a halt, up against the verge in the slow lane.

Something is not right I thought

. I therefore stuck the hazards on and got out of the car so I could hide behind the crash barrier.

. Plenty of people were having a nose, and probably commenting about the rather daft place to park ! The car was very much in harms way as other motorists were having to go out to fast lane to get past my offending vehicle, I was just waiting for someone to hit it.

After a quick call to the RAC, they promised to put the call through as a priority - and thankfully noted that I would probably need uplifting. I was then greeted by one of the boys in blue, who kindly put his police car behind mine and proceeded to direct the traffic. He also kindly called another Officer to come and tow me 50 yards to a layby. Soon after the RAC sent a flat bed and got the car home.

So my appreciation extends to the Police and the RAC for getting me out of the predicament. They did a great job, and the Policeman was very complimentary about the car. I half expected comments suggesting I might have been "misbehaving", but not a bit of it.

So the problem now is to sort the car. Before yesterday I didnt notice any clutch problems, it just happened as if something had snapped. The Clutch pedal still feels the same, but it wont go in gear if the engine is running.

I can put it in gear with the ignition switched off, and if I keep the clutch pedal down and start the car it wants to go forward. However I can not get it out of gear.

Does this mean the clutch needs replacing, or are there other components that would give these symptoms ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.