Have you tried data retrieval software? You can download some of them free. I don't know how successful they are, but its worth a shot if the alternative is £200.
Check some of these out and see if they are any good, you will likely need a working hard drive in order to get the info off the old one though.
http://www.download.com/1770-2018_4-0.html?query=data+retrieval&searchtype=downloads&filter=licenseName=Free|platform=Windows&filterName=licenseName=Free|platform=Windows&tag=ltcol
If you are having this much trouble with hard drives on your laptop, isnt it covered under its warranty? You have had it less than a year. Also, if this has happened twice now, it might be some other problem that is causing this. I am no expert, but it isnt that common to have two successive hard drives fry like this.
Personally I would check around different places to see how much they are charging for data retrieval, as many places will charge extra. I wouldn't recommend going to somewhere like PC world as in my experience, they are rather lacking in it it. You are better going to a laptop repair shop, perhaps a small independant one rather than a chain of some sort. I have had good experiences with them, plus they need to offer competative prices in order to stay in business, especially in this current climate. Might be that they could find out if there is any underlying problem to.
