Zanussi ZWF1400W washing machine. How do we fix a 'start up' problem ?

After a wash cycle the machine seems to need several hours to settle down before it will do another wash. If you don't give it that time, and try to start a wash, it appears to start the cycle and the display shows the time of the chosen programme . No water enters the tub however & after 30 seconds or so the thing switches off and shows '0' on the display -as it does when a cycle has ended . Diagnosis and suggestions welcomed!

D&L
August 2009