thanks for the advice, is there anywhere you suggest to buy ether with sterling or euros ?
You could try buying from Kraken, I recommend them highly. Since you are in Europe, you can pay with SEPA.Their SEPA deposits are very fast and you don't have to wait forever to have your account credited, most times, it's done within twenty four hours. You could then trade for ether. At the moment, I wouldn't recommend coinbase, I have nothing against them, they are good and reputable but their customer services sucks big time and I get the impression they don't care. It's just my opinion.