hi, no there was no smoke coming from the exhaust. had a chat with a mechanic and he thinks it might be the coil pack too as it is misfiring.
not sure if this is related, as i've only just noticed it happening last week, but there has been a couple of new noises. 1 is like a quiet road noise which i just put down to a bearing starting to go, hopefully this won't be related to the loss of power today.
2nd one happens when i've been for a drive, switched off the engine and there's a high pitched noise coming from under the bonnet. it only lasts a couple of seconds, almost like something electronic is shutting down.