Big Al

Just to hark back to flagrag's posts - he says the bond comes into effect when a club is "unable" to make payments to riders (and perhaps other parties). Does anyone know what actually constitutes "unable"......does it include temporary cash shortage, or does it mean when the company has actually gone into administration or liquidation? Is suspect it is the latter, in which case as Leicester Speedway Ltd is still apparently trading, the riders and others would not currently have access to obtaining money owed from the bond. I also suspect that if DH is trying to say he is no longer liable because he is no longer the promoter (for whatever reason), that is a red herring because he remains a director of Leicester Speedway Ltd, and as such would still be legally liable for payments due by Leicester Speedway Ltd (whilst it is still trading). From what Flagrag says, the loan from HSBC is almost paid off now (but it still shows as being "live"), but I still suspect that HSBC could be putting the squeeze on. There is another possibility as regards where income is going. Its quite commonplace with these sort of companies, for the proprietor/director to build into the company's debts a sum of money to re-imburse that person from the company's income for "professional services" that he himself has provided in setting up the company and developing it (in terms of time and expertise). In this case, the person would be David Hemsley, and he takes out what he is "owed". Perfectly legitimate, by the way. Maybe that's what has been happening recently. Think Philip Green and BHS but on a far smaller scale.

It doesn't look like Leicester Speedway is (yet) in the hands of official insolvency administrators. But I'd be surprised if HSBC hasn't been going in hard to try and get their money back, or at least some of it.So what are the circumstances in which the BSPA bond is drawn on, to pay riders points money owed? Does the speedway company (with which the riders have a contractual relationship) need to have actually become officially insolvent by going into Administration or Liquidation, or does it just need the company owner to just say "sorry folks, not my problem any more". It sounds a bit like Hemsley is trying to do the latter, and I'm not sure he can just get away with doing that. He is still (along with his wife and 1 other) a director and refers to himself as the owner of Leicester Speedway. So surely the riders still have a contractual relationship with him/Leicester Speedway and cant be fobbed off if, as you say, he's telling them to go to the BSPA? My bet is HSBC

I hope the takings from the match yesterday enable anyone who may be owed money by Leicester speedway to be paid soon.

You may well ask, Weatherwatcher. People having trouble getting refunds, riders owed several weeks money, matches being put back to later dates.(the Kings Lynn one is just re-arranging of the postponed one). It all adds up to what's commonly known as "cash flow problems", something I have on occasions experienced myself, and possibly you too. If it's gone a stage further than that, we are then talking about Insolvency, and that really does impose severe restrictions of course. I suspect efforts are going on to resolve the cash flow problems, probably of a short term nature to try and ensure the season is completed. And if that's the case, BSPA would certainly be involved to some extent. They would not want a team unable to fulfil it's remaining fixtures at this stage of the season, that would entail results having to be expunged and create all sorts of mess. So i doubt if you will know exactly what's going on, but it's a fair guess I'd say.

Sounds like you're more of a Norman Storer fan

That was Phil Herne.Jensen was more 000, next match 3033

I think they probably do have a good understanding of it. Highly useful, to help them prevent customers from being too knowledgeable. A few days ago i saw a report somewhere, that the LE4 postcode area is the country's highest for people being victims of scams. I just couldn't help thinking about the possible reasons or sources!!

Watch out Buster Chapman, sounds like Mads is getting mad

I bet there is now

Why?

This postponement has shown up the weaknesses of the Elite league in glorious technicolor.As a business model it isn't viable. There is way too much risk exposure, having huge vulnerability to the laws of Sod and Murphy. Have a high concentration of matches in April, when those brave enough to attend have to spend an evening having their nollocks frozen off, and compete for customers and media attention with football with attendances and income reduced accordingly.Then,in the height of summer, have a scarcity of fixtures,with additional risk if one of them is postponed (or gets mucked about due to a clash with something on the telly) of limiting the lifeblood of income at a time when income should be maximised. It's bonkers, completely crackers. If I went to a bank to ask for finance to start up a business with this model, they ought to send me packing!! So it's hardly surprising if Leicester took people's money if they decided to cross the threshold. They also had riders money for two away matches to cough up. From the postings on here of Kevin and Glyn, (the guys who know the track best) there was a fair chance of it going ahead, given more time. It's a shame it sounds like the Leicester promoters dealt with it a bit ham-fistedly.

I'm guessing that club owners don't need to be licensed/approved by the BSPA as they don't have the responsibilities of promoters (and being licensed and governed by BSPA/ACU rules) in terms of running a meeting and maybe don't deal with the BSPA/ACU. So whilst Leicester still has two licensed promoters, DH can still call the shots and at the same time sidestep any other aspects of the suspension which would apply to him were he still a promoter. I guess it also depends on how happy the promoters are, to let him carry on calling the shots and where the line is drawn between the three of them.

And you can be sure that if customers and staff don't turn up, the Hemsleys will be blaming everyone else except themselves

Such a patronising tone to the message! "We are planning to keep the bar area open so fans can watch the football match on the television if they wish". Sounds like a bl**dy public school Headmaster. Your customers ain't underling pupils, David, they're grownups. How about: "We'll have a TV set up in the bar, and supporters will be welcome to come in and watch the football after the end of our match."

Think the Mercury may get a letter from DH's solicitors for mis-quoting him! And the BSPA could slap another fine on him for making another fraudulent comment

In his Leicester Mercury piece today Mr Hemsley says Sky cameras will the there at Beaumont Park on Monday.

Add it to the long list of fraudulent statements !

Not having any personal experience of course in SCB/ACU disciplinary processes, but from my laymans viewpoint I'm surprised that DH seems to be attempting to turn the process into an investigation into the competency of officials and, by implication, a wider issue about competency of the SCB/ACU in the training and on-going professional development of officials. However, the disciplinary hearing and subsequent fine and other sanctions was brought about due to DH's own personal CONDUCT in relation to the rules which he as a promoter, was subject to abiding by. Surely the appeal needs to likewise focus on those areas, e.g. whether or not the comments made by DH (whatever they were), really were "fraudulent"? If he has issues with the official and his conduct and competency (including the competency of the SCB/ACU, and they may welll be valid concerns), shouldn't they be raised by DH separately. It does look as if he is trying to turn this around into putting SCB/ACU on trial, including the claim for damages, but is this the right way to be going about it?

There isn't such a thing as a third heat leader now, and in some cases no such thing as a second heat leader, just a revolving door of riders who happen to have the no.3 and no.5 positions in a team at any given time, who may even come up from and then return back to no.6 or 7. May as well just go to 15 heats of nominated riders and have done with it.

Well.........what do you think??

Ha! If he was up before the beak for the likes of those, they'd struggle to finish the hearing within a week!

Does anyone know about the two "fraudulent comments" Mr Hemsley was judged to be guilty of making - what he said and when/where/how they were made?

He entertains a fantasy of being some kind of heroic renegade, stirring up the established order and emerging triumphant. This usually ends up in either of two outcomes: 1. Go down in history as a hero 2. Go down in history a a complete prat

It needs two divisons of 10 teams each, with 2 or 3 up and 2 or 3 down promotion/relegation. Low team points limits. Scrap the FDR system, maybe have 6-man teams. Top 5 in each dvision have playoffs. Bottom 5 in Division 1 have relegation playoffs. Bottom 5 in Div 2 have playoffs for one-off playoff v winners of NL, with possible promotion/relegation at stake.

I think someone on here has said the fine could be taken from the bond, if it remained unpaid. Whether thats true or not I dont know, or what the timescale would be. Maybe if that were to happen, would trigger his promoters license being revoked. Clearly theres been far more going on over the past couple of years than just the recent incident.