As you may have read previously, Chester City Council are trying to extort money from me for a parking ticket, when I tried to pay for my parking, and the machines didn’t work. I complained about it, but they responded, refusing my complaint.

Naturally I phoned up this week, was told someone would call me back, which they didn’t. Then I phoned again and spoke to a chap named Chris Follis. Chris asked why I didn’t phone them at the time. Like I was going to phone up Parking Services, on a Sunday, from the car park, in the pissing snow!

Anyhow, he confirmed that the car park does have CCTV, so it should be a simple matter to prove I am telling the truth. Just check the damn footage!

He said I needed to complain to a more senior parking official, Mike Leicester. Here is my letter to Mike.

Dear Sir

Further to my complaint dated 4th January, and your subsequent reply from the 29th January, I wish to challenge your decision regarding my parking fine. As per my original email, I tried to pay at TWO separate machines, only for them to refuse to accept my money. Furthermore, as per my email, they gave me an additional £2 to that which I tried to pay – a bizarre thing to make up if you believe I am lying.

As I tried to pay, twice, I will not be paying your fine and suggest you check the CCTV footage from the car park which will show that I tried to pay, at two separate machines. If the CCTV footage does not show me attempting to pay I will not only pay your fine, but you can have my car.

I refuse to be extorted by you when I made every effort to pay and will gladly go to court to prove my innocence. I have already decided to never spend any further money in Chester, and will stick to Manchester from now on.

I await your response.

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I wrote a while back at how I received a £50 parking ticket when I visited Chester, and the two pay machines didn’t work when I tried to pay. I wasn’t the only one, another woman at the time couldn’t pay and there were several cars without tickets.

I sent an email to protest about the fine, as there really was no way I could have bought a ticket, and I’ve just had a reply. They’ve said they’ve investigated, and found that the machines were working and that I have to pay the fine within seven days.

Here’s the reply:

Thank you for your letter

I have considered your appeal but I am satisfied the parking ticket should not be cancelled.

I have checked my records and there were no machine faults reported by the Patrol Officers or by other motorists for this car park. Our Patrol Officers issued no other parking tickets for this offence to support your appeal.

Please pay the £50 parking ticket within 7 days from the above date. Send your payment to Parking Services in the pre-paid envelope. Cheques should be made payable to Chester City Council.

So they’re calling me a liar? Tell you what, if they can produce CCTV footage of me turning up and walking off without trying to pay, not only will I pay the fine, but they can have my car.

I will phone them up on Monday morning and rip them apart. I am not paying this fine because the machines didn’t work.

They are lying, thieving bastards and their attempt to extort money from me won’t work. It’s the last time I ever go to Chester to spend money, their parking services try to steal money from you in a sting.

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Like most guys I’m not particularly keen on shopping. I’d much rather do it from the comfort of my home via the Internet rather than traipse round town centres and shopping centres. However there are some things you can’t really buy online and shoes are one of them, at least if you want them to fit properly.

When I go shoe shopping though I get very frustrated. Not because I don’t like trying shoes on, because I can’t find anything in my size. I’m only a size 12, which isn’t particularly big. I’m only 6’2”, which while tall isn’t exactly freakishly tall. There are many people taller than me in most rooms or shops, yet it seems that most shoe shops only carry a limited stock of size 12 shoes. Plus, the shoes they do have in a 12 are never the ones I want.

Why do shoe shops only cater for short, stunted guys? When I have to pick up a shoe I want and ask the poor girl at the till if she has it in a size 12 I feel slightly embarrassed. Why should I feel ashamed to have such gargantuan feet? I’m large; I can’t be the only one? There must be other guys out there who require size 12 shoes, yet the best designs are made just for midgets and inadequate guys who wear size 8.

As a nation we’re getting taller year on year, but no one seems to be adapting to that when it comes to making shoes. I don’t want to feel like a freak for asking for a 12 in a shoe shop, yet because I’m bigger than most men it seems to happen that way.

Anyway, I did manage to buy two pairs of sized 12 shoes in Chester yesterday. One was in Jones’ the Bootmakers and one was in Debenhams. They were OK, the pair of Kickers from Debenhams were quite good, but I saw better shoes elsewhere that only come in midget sizes. Next had a cool pair that seemed to only go up to an 8, and they couldn’t even order a 12 because they don’t carry them. There was a great pair of Adidas in another shop that seemed to peak at a 10.

Life is tough when you’re not a stunted midget.

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