Fiesta engine temp in the red

Head gasket problem, cooling fan problem.

And is it a common problem with Fiestas?

No.

Check to see if the wire that goes to the temp sensor (on the tstat housing) is still in one piece and not corroded practically all the way through. That can prevent the fan from kicking in resulting in overheating in traffic.

Does it boil?

Apart from the obvious - voltage regulator?

It's common enough on all cars, as there's loads of possible causes.

Christian.

Not unless you have the RS Turbo Fiesta. No more than other cars.

If it's reporting it's overheating inside a few minutes of start up, replacing the sender should cure the problem.