I can't recall ever hearing this, either.

I've no doubt that the idiom exists and that we'd all understand it if we heard it. But it isn't at all common. I wouldn't recommend trying to use it, if I were you.

Yes it is:

Also the idiom "throw a spanner in the works" or "thrown a spanner in the works" is used.

The reason you have not heard it is because we do not use idioms as often as you-tubers tell learners and that specific idiom is used for specific not very common situations.

It was four months ago that it was used to tell me in a telephone conversation with an electricity supplier customer service support staff member, that a workman who had marked two electric meters with the same number had "thrown a spanner in the works". It then took another three months of calls and emails to get the correct electricity meter number onto 'the national database' and for me to be correctly billed in future.

This is the type of situation that it is used in it is not a common daily situation. I suspect it won't be for more than another year that it occurs in a normal conversation revolving around sorting out problems or etc.