I did as you suggested, and drained the carby bowl, via. that Bolt. No wonder the machine never kicked over [see pic 1], the petrol was blacker than the "Ace Of Spades!" Once it appeared to be fully drained, I turned the Fuel Button to On and flushed everything out, until it was clear, then turned the fuel button Off and replaced the Bolt.
Then to the air filter, I took every thing off, gave it all a quick clean, and left it as you suggested. The only thing I didn't do was pour any gas down the throat, as by this time, I could very definitely smell petrol. At this stage I also replaced the plug, with the one that was originally in there, when this mess originally happened, because I knew it was not that old, and I cleaned it well before doing so.
I then turned the gas shut off lever to the On position, and followed my normal starting routine, and it kicked in instantly on the first pull, although there was plenty of smoke coming out of the exhaust, but I new that it was the oil residue burning off that caused that.
I then went straight out and 'Double Cut" our Croquet Lawn, followed by a Single Cut, [see pic 2.] just to check how the back-lapping went, by which time there were no visible exhaust issues!
Once again, thanks to all who helped me on this, and let's hope if someone else gets in this unfortunate predicament, they can refer to these posts, as a guide, perhaps...
