Epson have today replaced the machine with a new one, and renewed the warranty for another year, (the original broke down in May, at 10 months old). Obviously I am delighted with this outcome, though I do wish it had not taken so long, and so much effort.
Thanks to everyone who offered help and information, this was of great value when dealing with Epson. I would like to offer the following points in the hope that it may help others prevent/deal with similar problems:
1) Always switch off the machine (at the printer) when its not in use - to avoid ink drying in the nozzles.
2) Avoid running more than 3 or 4 nozzle cleaning cycles, as this can make the problem worse, (not always my experience, but this advice came from Epson).
3) If repeated cleaning cycles have not helped, leave the printer switched off (I found an overnight rest did work, 3 hours was not enough).
Finally, the last Epson tech support person I spoke to (in France) was very interested in problems with the OSX drivers, he said they were coming up with fixes/workarounds for their drivers 'almost every day' and it was always worth calling them if you encounter any problems...
Regards, William Davies.
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