No Reverse Gear!!!!!

I came to reverse out my drive this morning but i could not get into reverse gear no matter how hard i tried. Its a '93 200 tdi and i think it has a spring loaded gate preventing access to reverse by accident. It worked fine last night but not this morning Im guessing thast the gate has seized up. Any suggestions??

If the working for this are on the top of the gear box, then i will prob have to take the plastic centrre console out but not sure how its attached.

So guys...what do you think??

James