ive had the same problem with mine,my temp gauge used to stay about half way up the gauge and the sensor packed up (earthed out)i bought another sensor from mds and temp went up to near the red exactly the same as yours,i then bought another sensor from my local motor factors and tried that and yes it was still near the red i then changed my fan switch,it still kicked in near the red i then decided to check my sensor by putting the sensor in boiling water while still wired up to my gauge..i noticed that when my gauge was near the red the boiling water was only showing 80-90 degrees on a thermometer.
i have driven the car all over even went to rscentral day the other week 130 miles with no problems other than the gauge showing close to red like yours ,i will be getting a different temp gauge as i think it must have gone faulty.hope this helps