I'm Gary Spencer Bonehill, and I carry out playground inspections across Manchester and Greater Manchester. I'm based in Chorley, Lancashire — about 25 miles north of Manchester city centre, which is typically 35 to 45 minutes depending on traffic via the M61 and M60.

Manchester is a big city with a lot of play equipment. Council parks, school playgrounds, housing association play areas, nurseries, and indoor play centres — they all need regular inspection. Whether it's Platt Fields Park, Heaton Park, or a primary school playground in Didsbury, I cover the lot.

I inspect outdoor playgrounds and indoor soft play centres to BS EN 1176 and BS EN 1177 standards.

Manchester has no shortage of companies offering playground inspections. The big national names are all here — Playground Safety Inspector, Certified Playground Inspections, Playground Inspector UK, The Play Inspection Company, and Sovereign Compliance. Most of these operate as networks, dispatching inspectors from around the country to cover bookings in the Manchester area.

Some of these companies also sell, install, or maintain playground equipment alongside their inspection services. That creates a potential conflict of interest: the company inspecting your playground might also be the one quoting to replace the equipment it flags as deficient.

In a city the size of Manchester, it's easy to feel like just another booking number. Here's what's different about working with me:

• Truly independent. I don't sell, install, or maintain equipment. I inspect it and tell you what I find. My reports aren't influenced by any commercial interest in follow-up work.
• One person, start to finish. You speak to me when you book. I carry out the inspection. I write the report. If you've got questions, you call me. There's no chain of people to go through.
• 25 years of engineering. Before I became a play inspector, I worked as a mechanical engineer for 25 years. That means I'm looking at your equipment with an engineer's understanding of how things fail — not just following a checklist. I can spot the early signs of structural fatigue, weld deterioration, and fixing wear that others might miss.
• Consistent quality. With a national company, the quality of your inspection depends on whichever inspector they send on the day. With me, you get the same experienced inspector every time.
• RPII registered. Same professional registration as the inspectors at the large firms. The qualification is identical — the difference is the service.

I cover Manchester city centre and the wider Greater Manchester area including Salford, Stockport, Trafford, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, and Wigan. If you manage play equipment anywhere in Greater Manchester, get in touch for a quote.