P-reg 1.6 petrol volkswagen golf won't start after previously revving سے طرف کی itself. Help

I recently brought a 1.6 petrol P-reg volkswagen golf privately. It ran perfectly for 2-3 days, but then started to over-rev سے طرف کی itself. It would continue to pull me along the road even when I removed my foot from the throttle. When I slowed down to give way at roundabouts it would intermittently rev itself. It would stop after I switched off the engine and switched it back on again. Oddly, this would only happen on my way back from work, a 15 mile drive and after the car had remained idle for 8 hours, perhaps just coincidence. A few days later, after only owning the car for 7 days, it would not start. It would crank but not actually آگ کے, آگ up. I have changed the distributor as the HT leads did not appear to spark, but the results are no different. Has anyone had a similar problem یا encountered anything similar. I do not want to spend a lot of money on a problem that can be fixed alot cheaper سے طرف کی myself.