Well i got off the phone earlier to somebody at 3 after arranging my phone to be taken away to get flashed with the latest firmware (v20).
Even though the Nokia website says that the latest version for my phone (3 branded) is v12, i have got confirmation from 3 and a 'Trusted Nokia Warranty' shop that the v20 firmware is indeed available to people with 3 branded phones.
So I've got somebody arriving tomorrow to pick my phone up to do this for me and I will receive it back on Friday, as long as nothing serious has gone wrong with it.
I will let everybody on here know what has happened.