My oil light came on today, beeped at me three times then went out again!! any ideas why?!

Car was only serviced 6 months ago and hasnt covered more than 5k miles in that time.. it is an 02 reg 1.4 16v manual.

Have you actually checked the oil level yet?

5000 miles and six months is plenty of time for oil consumption. Check oil level, top up, job done.

Espeacilly for that engine, usually high oil consumption.