Rattling then gearstick went floppy

[garethwilkins]

This is nothing to do with my age.
406 1.9 turbo diesel S Reg
I have had a rattling noise for the last week from what sounded like just infront of my steering wheel. Suddenly on my way to work today there was a bit of a bang and my gearstick went loose. At first I could still change gear but now it is stuck in what I think is 3rd. Does anyone know what could be wrong and how I could fix it.
Cheers

[Welly]

Sounds like the selector mechanism and the joints between the selector rods. There is also a gearbox mounting that can let go and stop you selecting gears. You'll have to have a good nose around at the selector rods I think.

It won't be the gearbox itself.

[mjb]

Sound like just linkage to me

[teamster1975]

You just beat me mjb!

Sounds as though one of the gear change linkages has broken, I've never done the job but there are other guys here that can help.