Hoover VHC381 -80 tumble dryer fan failure?

When we power up our Hoover VHC381 -80 tumble dryer the red start arrow light comes on but when we press the start/pause button the machine hums but will not operate. After removing the rear security panel it is possible to manually start the fan by spinning it and the machine operates for a few minutes before stopping and returning to the humming state. This problem has persisted and the fan is now making quite a loud rattling noise so we suspect this is the fault. We have not seen any fan units offered for this model though. Any advice would be very welcome.

Simon
June 2012