Episode 5 The Legalizer

I've had an interesting life.

Coal miner, forklift truck driver,

bricklayer, factory production line worker, fireman.

I've lived rough on the streets of London and Paris.

But now I've got a new job.

'As a Queen's Counsel barrister,

'I know the law inside out.

'I've prosecuted and defended some of the UK's most serious criminals,

'but the life I've led means I know that the world can be a tough place.

'At some point, we've all felt ripped off, cheated or conned.

'It's frustrating, costly and stressful.

'But I know consumers can fight back and get justice.

'I'm not here to represent anyone.

'What I want is to empower you'

to use the law to get what you're owed.

Today, I'm in Monmouthshire, with a family who have been driven

to despair by a camper van.

The mattress was wet with no electric,

the oven hadn't been bolted in.

That slid across the floor whilst we were driving.

But first, I'm in Huddersfield,

on the trail of a runaway mobility scooter dealer.

'I'm going to help both of these women work out how much they're owed

'and show them how they can use the law to get their money back.'

This is the Altaf family.

Dad Mohammed, mum Zahida, and the boys -

Muhzamal, Awais and the little one, Mundasar.

Dad is blind and mum Zahida has cerebral palsy.

She's our mother first... and she is disabled.

She likes to be very independent.

Likes to go out and stuff like that.

Zahida is very self-sufficient

and for years had a mobility scooter to get around on.

Always going around everywhere. She could get everywhere within minutes

and it was, like, probably the easiest transport she's ever had.

When Zahida's old scooter needed fixing, the family

called in local dealer Peter Brown from a shop called Drivability.

Once he was introduced to the family,

he tried to sell Zahida a bigger, faster scooter.

After several visits, she agreed.

Peter Brown took her old scooter, some extra cash

and agreed for the rest to be paid in instalments.

But on only the second day out,

the new scooter broke down in the middle of the road.

TYRES SQUEAL HORN BLARES

Her husband and youngest son came to the rescue.

And then we got a call from her and we heard that the scooter broke down.

I was so worried, I was actually shivering.

Peter Brown took the scooter away for repair

and then returned it again...

with exactly the same problems.

He now denied the second scooter was faulty, and when Zahida protested

he took the scooter away, leaving her with nothing.

-He took the scooter anyway.

-Yeah, he just took the scooter...

-No word from him.

-No word from him. Just took the scooter and just went.

Peter Brown refused to return Zahida's scooter,

demanding she pay him the remaining £500.

The family tried everything to get Mum's scooter back.

Peter Brown wouldn't listen to the family, leaving Zahida

without a scooter for two years. And now the Drivability shop has closed.

I've been there twice, three times, four times.

I've been there, he's not there.

Peter Brown has now taken Zahida's original scooter,

her new scooter, and the £1,460 it cost her.

I just wish that my mum got her scooter back

and then she'd have an easier life.

This is, frankly, an appalling case.

Zahida went to a trader

who specialised in helping disabled people.

He took her scooter and then closed his shop down without returning it.

I'll be seeing Zahida later to try and track down who it is

that has her scooter and her money, and help her get them back.

Monmouthshire, Wales.

Home to a family that's got a problem with a camper van.

Meet Joanne Chappell.

We have two boys.

They're nine and seven. The oldest is called James,

the youngest is called Nate.

There is never enough hours in the day.

It's nonstop. We don't get to sit down in our lounge, really.

We are constantly doing something.

As well as running three businesses and raising the kids...

..Joanne has a hobby.

MUSIC: "Back In Black" by AC/DC

In their spare time, Joanne and her partner Dave like

to take their motorbikes away for the weekend.

You do end up spending the whole day on the bike,

getting covered in mud and having no washing facilities.

Travelling away with the bikes in the back of an old van

was beginning to lose its appeal for Joanne

until she came up with the idea of a multipurpose camper van,

with room for the bikes and a luxury living space up front.

The dream that we could have a shower, we could cook our tea,

we'd sleep in comfort with heating and lighting,

and make a nice weekend of it.

Joanne bought a second-hand panel van to convert into the luxury

camper van she'd dreamed of.

She then found a company called Race Passion, who told her they

could carry out the conversion, and quoted her £11,000 to do the job.

Which they did.

Except, when the van finally came back from the workshop...

..it was anything but luxury.

We went to North Wales.

We woke up the following morning with no electric.

The oven hadn't been bolted in - that slid across the floor

whilst we were driving. There was water coming through the roof lights.

The seating arrangement broke.

The mattress was wet from where the roof lights had leaked.

The van went straight back to Race Passion

so that the faults would be fixed.

In the end, after waiting for months and months,

we thought we'd just have to collect it and sort it ourselves.

When she got it home she discovered that none of the work had been done,

and some parts were even missing.

The van was in such a poor state that Joanne felt

she needed to take it to another company for basic repairs,

costing a further £3,000.

And even after this work, it's still far from perfect.

The dream was to go camping with the children,

to go and take our motorbikes to places,

just to take the kids' pedal bikes to a park would have been nice.

We're over it now, it's gone.

I think we will just go back to a van and a barbecue and forget the dream.

Joanne's clearly not a happy camper.

The original company that carried out the work should have done it

to the agreed standard, and they didn't.

It looks like a simple breach of contract to me,

but if Joanne's going to get her money back,

she's going to have to prove that breach.

And I'll be seeing her later to help her go about doing just that.

Back now to Zahida Altaf.

She suffers from cerebral palsy

and relied on a mobility scooter to get about.

She bought one from a local disability specialist, Peter Brown.

When it broke down he took it for repairs

and then refused to return it.

He's now closed his shop, and Zahida hasn't had a scooter for two years.

I need to go to Huddersfield

to find out more about this missing scooter salesman.

The shop may have closed, but hopefully with my help

and assistance, Zahida can track down whoever's got her scooter

and try to get it or her money back.

-Hello.

-Hi, Gary Bell. Thank you very much.

I've read all about this case and can I say that I think it's

disgraceful what's happened to you.

And I came here, up the hill,

-and that's a pretty difficult hill to walk up, isn't it?

-True.

So this scooter, we're not talking about the scooters that the

Mods used to drive down to Brighton, are we? It was a mobility scooter.

You could get one of those.

I'm good on those.

So when you got this scooter, you paid £500 for your old scooter,

-the comfy scooter that served you well.

-Yeah.

And they offered to pay you £1,000 in part exchange for it.

-Yes.

-That's very kind of them.

Bargain Hunter of the Year - well, I don't think you would win that now,

would you, the Bargain Hunter of the Year?

So you had a scooter that worked, you bought a new scooter,

-they took away your scooter.

-Yeah.

You paid £800 and then £300 for the canopy, then £360 for the repair.

So £1,460, and as a result of that now you don't have a scooter.

-And you're trapped inside your own house.

-Oh, my goodness.

And you want her to get out a bit, do you, Mohammed,

-give you a bit of peace and quiet?

-Yeah.

How has it affected your life, not having a scooter?

It's disgraceful what's happened to you as a family.

And this man needs to pay.

Zahida's claim is a simple one.

From Peter Brown she wants either the original scooter

she bought, in good working order, or the money she gave him, back.

But before I leave Huddersfield, I want to check out for myself

the premises that he operated from.

"Drivability Mobility Specialists.

"To Let."

"Drivability Centre.

"Now open." I don't think so.

Letter box crammed full of mail.

This place seems to have shut down in a hurry.

All the signs still in the windows.

It looks like it should be open.

Some businesses do close,

particularly in these troubled times.

But all they had to do was to give Zahida her scooter back.

And they haven't done that.

They've kept her scooter and they've kept her money.

And now they've shut up shop.

Meanwhile, Joanne Chappell bought a van

and paid to have it converted into a dream camper van.

When it finally came back - months late -

almost none of the work was satisfactory,

and she had to pay another company to repair the faults.

On the face of it, this looks like a straightforward breach of contract.

Joanne's paid for something and she hasn't got what she paid for.

With my help and advice,

Joanne should be able to get this problem solved for herself.

-Hi, Gary Bell.

-Nice to meet you.

Well, I've read all about your case but we need to see the van

-if we can. Is it around?

-Yes, it's just over there.

Goodness me, that's a bit of a beast.

Right, let's go and have a look at it.

So you bought this van just as a basic van, is that right?

Yeah, we bought it about two years ago.

And you wanted to partition it the way it's partitioned now,

-effectively.

-Yes.

So somewhere for the bikes, somewhere for you to sit.

And then a bedroom up there and

-there's a fold-out bed that would become a bedroom for the children.

-Yes.

So tell me a bit about some of the problems you had.

'Brace yourselves, Joanne has a list of problems

'as long as a Russian novel.'

The water tank was leaking water, so we had water round by the wires.

The toilet leaked, so water would come into the living area.

The cooker slid out and actually hit the side of the wall.

-It is meant to be full of insulation.

-Oh, right.

It's just being cheap and using offcuts rather than one whole piece.

The tabletop leg doesn't go to the tabletop.

All the leaking around all the windows where they'd used

cheap-grade silicone.

At least the cushions look nice. Did they make these themselves?

No, they actually send these off to some other company to do

so that is the best part of the van.

I'm not a builder but I've seen them do that.

HOLLOW TAPPING

'Joanne tells me that several items were missing -

'even the plug from the telly had been taken.'

It's absolutely disgraceful that people can behave like that.

How do you feel about the van?

We can't keep it.

It's just made us so unhappy and caused so much stress, that

we will be selling the van and forgetting our dream of travelling.

-And that's all gone now?

-That's all gone. The dream has gone.

Right, Jo, let's go and have a look at the paperwork.

-You're not a caravaner then, are you?

-No, no, I can't be done with it.

I can't be done with it. My idea of a weekend is The Ritz.

'OK, so I might not be much of a camper,

'but even I can tell that that van was a shambles.

'Some of the faults have been fixed by a reputable company.

'But even after spending £3,000

'Joanne's still not happy with the van.'

Let's sit down and have a look at that paperwork then, shall we?

-It's nice to have a table, isn't it?

-Yes.

-Not like in the van.

-You thought about putting this one in the van?

-If only it would fit.

What we need to do is verify exactly what your case is, and see

if we've got evidence in this file to support it.

'Whenever you spend a lot of money it's always important to keep

'all of your paperwork, receipts, quotes and correspondence.

'Joanne has been very diligent.

'She's even got photographs showing the problems before the faults

'were fixed.'

So how long is it since you first dropped it off with him

to when you got it back finally after it was fixed?

It's been getting into the second year of just a nightmare,

living nightmare. There's been tears and arguments, frustration,

trying to get the van fixed.

And now trying to get our money back.

So from Paul Lloyd of Race Passion, Joanne's claim is...

The tax expired while the van couldn't be used.

-How many phone calls do you think you've made to him?

-Hundreds.

He never answers his calls, ever.

We will take him to court if we need to.

-But that should be a last resort.

-Right.

Why don't we just call him up and ask whether he'll pay on the phone?

'I want Joanne to know how to do this for herself.

'It's important that she makes this call.'

PHONE RINGS

Hi, Paul, it's Joanne with the camper.

'First tip, always state your case calmly and clearly.'

We've had all the work done on the camper to make it safe to use

and to fix all the faulty items.

'Well done, Joanne. Keep control of the situation.

'Now let him know what you think he's done wrong.'

You hadn't done any of the work...

PHONE DISCONNECTS Paul, are you still there?

'Well, that didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped.'

Let's write him a letter.

Tell him exactly what he did wrong and exactly what we want from him.

Joanne needs to let him know that she wants all the costs and

expenses that relate to the van to be repaid within a 14-day deadline.

If not, she'll take the case to court.

Let's hope this letter will get Joanne's problem solved.

This case isn't just about shoddy workmanship to a van.

It's about much more than that.

It's about the lost dreams of an entire family.

Joanne wants it over, and so do I.

And finally, after a 16-month nightmare, the end is in sight.

My name is Gary Bell, and as a QC I've spent most of my working life

dealing with major court cases.

But I haven't always been a barrister.

I've known some tough times,

and now I want to use my knowledge of the law to help others.

I want to show you how you can use the courts to recover your money.

Zahida Altaf was sold a mobility scooter

by Peter Brown of Drivability.

When the scooter went wrong, Zahida complained -

and he took it away and refused to give it back.

The shop he operated from has now closed,

and for over two years Zahida has been without a scooter or her money.

Peter Brown tried to get away with this,

without any concern for the effect it would have on Zahida or her life.

And she must now write to him,

asking for the return of the scooter or the money.

But she'll need somewhere to send the letter.

He may have closed the shop

but I bet he's left a trail on the internet.

The website has lots of pictures of scooters.

I wonder if one is Zahida's.

But there are no contacts other than the closed-down premises.

The shop was called Drivability.

That may be a registered trademark that we can check online.

And yes, sure enough, there it is - owned by Peter Brown.

And here's his address.

Zahida can now send him a letter before action

asking for her scooter back.

And it won't be the first letter before action

that Peter Brown's ever received.

This is Robert Batty, owner of a Drivability scooter.

It looks quite a good motor.

You know, the amount of people that have commented,

"Oh, that looks a nice machine."

For what they are, they're a good...

They are good.

But if they're not working right, they're neither use nor ornament.

Robert paid a total of £3,500

to Drivability for a six-month-old scooter.

From day one, it had problems.

Its battery was so faulty, Robert couldn't even get to town

and back on one charge.

I was lucky to go down to Morrisons and back and...that were it.

That's roughly about a mile.

When Robert complained to Drivability,

he was surprised by Peter Brown's novel customer service style.

Roughly how he speaks, it's "Ah!

"They're new batteries, I've told you, I've put new ones in,

"nothing wrong with them!"

Then when he gets going, he speeds up.

He's "Ah, ah, ah!" He's like...a whippet at your leg.

But Robert's having none of it, and he's taken Peter Brown

and Drivability to court.

Taking him to court. If I don't get anything, unfortunately, that's it.

If I do, which I think I've a good chance,

then that's £299 in my pocket as a bonus now.

'Robert lost £299 to Peter Brown, no small amount.

'But on the other side of the many hills of Huddersfield,

'85-year-old Thomas Somerville is owed an awful lot more.

'Thomas lost his legs through diabetes

'and relies on his scooters.'

Well, it is a lifeline for me,

because I wouldn't manage to go out if I didn't have the scooter.

'Thomas needs his scooter so much, he's got an indoor

'and an outdoor one.

'Well, now, because of Peter Brown,

'he's actually got two outdoor scooters.

'Thomas bought a brand-new scooter from Drivability for £5,000.

'But no sooner had it been delivered than it started stopping.

'But when Thomas complained, Peter Brown refused to fix it

'and just made excuses for why it wasn't working.'

He says, "I'll tell you what's the matter."

I said, "Go on, then, tell me what's the matter."

He says, "Where you go down that road,"

he says, "there's people has electric doors on their garages,"

and he says, "that's what's causing it."

I just gave up.

Anyway, I says, "There's nobody with electric garages down that road."

I says, "I know that for definite."

'As an engineer, Thomas couldn't believe the excuses

'Peter Brown was making, and he knew the scooter was to blame.

'He also couldn't understand why

'Peter Brown wouldn't fix his scooter.'

When it was a new vehicle, and he'd got the guarantee

and everything there, so why is he carrying on like that?

That's the only thing I could think on.

'After months of trying to get Peter Brown to fix his brand-new

'scooter, Thomas got nowhere.

'As he needs a scooter to get about,

'he was forced to spend £5,000 to buy himself another one.

'He then set about using the courts to

'recover his money from Peter Brown.'

I took him to court and I won the case. And that's when he closed.

'The courts found in Thomas' favour,

'and he is now owed £5,000.

'But so far, Peter Brown has paid him nothing.'

I don't have a lot of finances or nothing, no.

No, no, I'm completely skint now. Yeah, yeah.

Like Robert and Thomas,

the only person Zahida ever dealt with was Peter Brown,

but if the case goes to court,

he may well claim it was nothing to do with him and blame a company.

But like Robert, Thomas and Zahida said,

everything leads to Peter Brown.

I'll be back to see Zahida

when the deadline on her letter before action is up.

'Back now to the case of Joanne Chappell,

'who dreamed of owning a camper van.

'After waiting months for her van to be converted, she discovered that it

'had been done so poorly she needed to pay another company to fix it.

'She's now sent a letter to the owner of Race Passion, Paul Lloyd,

'asking him to cover the cost of those repairs.'

When Joanne was on the phone to Paul Lloyd, he told her he had a whole

host of satisfied customers and that she could find them on his website.

As a lawyer, I don't take anybody's word for it.

I'm going to look at that website and check it out for myself.

I always think it's a good idea to go online and search the name of the

company you're dealing with before you spend a lot of money with them.

Try a search on the company name, and look in forums

and review sites to see what other customers think.

A quick look at the Race Passion website and, yes, it looks great.

Lots of nice photos of vans.

He even claims here that his vans feature only the best

craftsmanship and materials.

But I wonder, are all of his customers satisfied?

This one is for a bike racer called Simon Low.

My name's Simon, I race motorcycles in the British Championship.

MOTORBIKE REVS

The bike I run is a 125 Honda.

This is my Iveco van. We use it as a race van and also as a camper.

'Yes, this is "satisfied customer" Simon Low.

'Paul Lloyd had his van proudly displayed on the website.'

We saw Paul advertising Race Passion on the internet.

The website looked really good

and Paul said he would do a conversion for 15,000 for us,

which we thought was pretty good considering other companies

were offering about 30,000.

The first thing that happened was the bed collapsed.

Where the dado rail would be in a house, type thing, erm, that fell down.

The sink actually leaked,

then the strip of lighting that lit up the kitchen area, that fell down.

The gas heater started playing up. That eventually stopped working.

Whenever you turn the hot water on, it just leaks out, like, cold water.

Just from all the insides.

To be honest, our 50 quid caravan felt more homely.

No, he's not going to have his hands on this van again.

'And Simon's not alone.

'This van here on the company's website belongs to another

'so-called satisfied customer.

'Only she clearly isn't.

'In fact, she's so unhappy with her Race Passion van

'she's started her own blog detailing the problems.

'But up in Leicester, it's not a shoddy van that's the problem,

'it's the lack of one.

'Oh, and a missing £10,000.'

My name's John Bowman, I'm self-employed,

I have a business where I use a van, and basically the idea was to

have one van to use for pleasure and also for business.

The camper van was going to help us to do what we wanted to do,

which was basically, if we wanted to go out for a day

and stop overnight somewhere we could do, because we'd have the camper van.

So we found one on a site on the internet.

The site looked absolutely fantastic, and some of the vans

in the pictures were brilliant, it really did look good.

'John instructed Paul Lloyd at Race Passion to buy him

'a second-hand van and carry out his camper conversion.'

He said that he'd got me a van, sourced a van, told me all about it,

said he was happy with what it was.

I said, "OK, fine, what d'you want me to do?"

So he said, "Can you send me £10,000?"

Which I did do, erm, I sent him a cheque for £10,000,

and the biggest problem I had then was that he just wouldn't

answer any telephone calls, e-mails.

I just couldn't get in touch with the guy.

He was going to build it in December, he didn't.

He then said he was going to build it in January, he didn't.

He then said he would build us a race van

because he wouldn't give us our money back.

He would build a race van, sell it and then give us a full refund.

He didn't do that.

He kept on saying that he wanted to sort the problem out, but never did.

You just can't believe a word this man says.

I just want to stop this guy.

He needs stopping.

'Now, almost two years later, John still doesn't have his camper van

'or the £10,000 he sent to Paul Lloyd.'

It's completely destroyed us because we were so, so wanting to have a van.

'Alongside John, Joanne now seems very lucky.

'At least she got her van back.'

In all of my Crown Court cases,

supporting evidence is crucial to substantiating your claim.

It's the same in Joanne's case.

She's done very well, she's kept all of the paperwork,

she took photographs of the van before it was sent off for repairs.

But what we really need is an expert's opinion.

'Even though Joanne spent an extra £3,000 putting Paul Lloyd's

'shoddy work right, I'm still worried about that van.

'So I've contacted "Diamond Dave" Newell.

'He's the technical expert from Practical Motorhome magazine,

'and I've asked him to take a look.

'He might spot something everyone else has missed.'

Well, it's a big van.

Chequer plate floor.

That's the flue outlet for the fridge, which is

obviously obscured by the sliding door once the door is open.

There's also no heat vents for the fridge.

Got a Trumatic gas-fired space heater.

Vented out through the driver's side wall

immediately below an openable window.

If that was burning poorly, it could be producing carbon monoxide,

which is lethal.

The standard of finishing here is really quite poor.

It's completely un-insulated.

You're very quickly going to ruin this door

and this wall that isn't made of waterproof material.

Roof lights haven't been sealed properly.

That could do with some more support.

The ceiling panel isn't straight.

That finishing trim isn't adhered to the back panel at all.

I would certainly expect better than that. It's distinctly amateur.

The battery hasn't been vented down through the floor.

Lead acid batteries, when they're being charged,

give off hydrogen, which obviously is highly explosive.

This void here under the seat could very easily fill up with

a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

When the battery was charging,

it could blow this compartment clean out.

Any fool could see that Paul Lloyd had done a bodge job

on this camper van.

But it needed an expert to tell us that it was also dangerous.

'The 14 days Joanne gave Paul Lloyd to pay up have now passed,

'and she's heard absolutely nothing.'

Joanne has given him every chance to pay up.

She's phoned him, written to him.

We now know that Paul Lloyd's got previous for this sort of thing,

so the only option left for Joanne is to take him to court.

'To start an action in the small claim court,

'all you need to do is fill in the form online.

'You can download and print one, you can

'get a copy from your local court, or from the Citizens Advice Bureau.'

Right, so this is the claim form where we set out our claim.

Just put in a few personal details and the addresses.

'You'll need to enter the claimant's details, that's Joanne,

'and the defendant's, that's Paul Lloyd.

'Next, it's the brief details of your claim.

'Keep this as short as possible.'

It's a very small box so they only want brief details.

But it's there that we set out what it is that happened

and what it is we're asking for.

So firstly, how much did it cost you to have the work done

-to make the van safe?

-It cost us £3,000.

Well, that's the first thing

and that'll be the biggest sum of money on the value form.

'By adding up the basic repairs, missing items and MOT and tax,

'Joanne's claim is £4,407.

'Remember, you must tell the truth. This is a legal document.'

Well done, Joanne. This is the first step in getting your money back.

Yes, it'll be nice for it all to be over.

'Once this letter is posted, Paul Lloyd at Race Passion

'will need to answer to the British justice system.'

Right, well, there's the van.

And hopefully this is going to be the letter that sorts it all out

and gets your money back.

-Are you sure you want to do this?

-Yes.

-Sure you want to go to court?

Yes. It's been a nightmare. The man has been the bane of our life.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

'Let's hope for Joanne's sake a court summons will bring Paul Lloyd

'to his senses, and get him to pay up.'

From all we know about Paul Lloyd, we don't expect him to respond

to this court summons, but if he won't talk to us now,

he will talk to us in court.

'In Huddersfield, Zahida Altaf has sent a letter before action

'to Peter Brown, who sold her a mobility scooter

'and then took it away for repair and failed to give it back,

'leaving Zahida without a way to get about for over two years.

'She wants her scooter, or the money she paid for it, back.'

Zahida's had a reply from Peter Brown.

He said he's got nothing to do with her scooter

and she should contact the company she bought it from.

The problem is, she didn't buy it from a company,

she bought it from Peter Brown.

But if he won't pay up, she has no choice but to take him to court.

'Starting Zahida's claim is simple.'

I've got the small claims form here.

We can fill that in together now.

'Zahida is the claimant.'

For the defendant, you dealt with Peter Brown.

So we'll put Peter Brown down there as the defendant.

'Next, in the brief details of the claim box,

'I think it's important the judge understands

'exactly the situation Zahida is in.

'We can show how the scooter came to be taken by Peter Brown,

'and that since then he's ignored Zahida's requests.

'Now, the value.'

Now, the entire price you paid for this scooter

was £1,300, is that right?

No, it must be more. You had to pay an extra £1,300.

So, that's...

Let alone the trouble it's caused her family.

And what about the compensation for poor Mohammed?

He used to get a break from you when you went out,

now you're here all the time.

That's what my wife always says to me as well, Zahida.

-The rule in our house is that it's always my fault.

-Yes.

ZAHIDA LAUGHS

That's true.

'I've filled out this form for Zahida,

'and if you need help, you can always ask someone to fill in yours.

'The one thing you should check is that everything that's

'written on the form is true.'

You just have to sign it there, Zahida.

Sign it there and we'll deliver a new scooter for you

on Monday morning. Just give us all the money in your purse.

No! And try not to break it this time.

That's the first step to getting your scooter and your money back.

You're very brave doing this.

We want the scooter back, the money back, and we want to see this

fellow pay for his quite frankly disgraceful behaviour.

Taking away a scooter and not returning it

clearly meant little to Peter Brown,

but for Zahida, it means that she's been a prisoner

in her own home now for over two years.

She wants her money back, she wants her scooter back.

Let's hope that when Peter Brown receives this court application,

he realises what he's done.

In Monmouthshire, Joanne Chappell has been trying to recover

the cost of making good the camper van conversion that she had

carried out by Paul Lloyd of Race Passion.

Paul Lloyd failed to defend her claim,

and she's been given judgement in default,

meaning that he is now required to pay back all of the money

he owes, and Joanne's additional court costs.

The court awarded her a total of £4,627.

I've since heard from Joanne, and on the day she appointed bailiffs,

Paul Lloyd agreed to pay the money back in £500 instalments,

which he did.

Finally, after almost three years,

Joanne has recovered all of the money Paul Lloyd owed her.

And John Bowman also took Paul Lloyd to court,

won, and he's now been paid back in full.

We contacted Paul Lloyd to ask him about the cases,

but he didn't respond.

Zahida Altaf is waiting to hear back from the court in her

case against local mobility scooter salesman Peter Brown.

He sold her a faulty scooter, took it in for repair,

and then refused to give it back.

Zahida has been without a scooter now for two years.

From Peter Brown, Zahida is claiming...

Zahida's heard back from the court. Peter Brown has filed the defence.

He claims that Zahida bought her scooter from a totally

different company, and it has nothing to do with him.

He goes on to say that, as a sole trader,

he used the name Drivability, but stopped in 2007.

Zahida no longer has any paperwork with either Peter Brown

or Drivability's name on it.

But when Robert Batty bought a scooter,

around the same time that Zahida bought hers,

Peter Brown gave him a receipt clearly marked Drivability,

and that's the registered trademark that Peter Brown owns.

Zahida will now need to prove to the judge that it was Peter Brown

personally who sold her the scooter and then took it away,

and to do that, she'll need to take her evidence to court.

On the day of the hearing in Huddersfield, Peter Brown contacted

the court to say he couldn't make it in due to the bad weather.

But Zahida and Mohammed managed to make it,

and the case was heard in Peter Brown's absence.

'After the hearing, I met up with Zahida and Mohammed

'to find out the result.'

Right, so, how did it go?

-It's OK!

-We won.

-You won?

-Yes.

-Brilliant.

You got everything you asked for.

He said that he couldn't get here because of the snow,

but you managed to get here fine.

Being unable to attend a hearing is sometimes an acceptable

reason for postponement, but in this case

the judge felt it wasn't, and found in Zahida's favour.

However, Peter Brown can still apply for a rehearing.

I've heard from Zahida, and Peter Brown has applied to the court

to set aside the first judgement and allow him another hearing.

Zahida has had to go back to the court,

but this time, Peter Brown did turn up.

The judge was still not impressed and found in Zahida's favour,

which means Peter Brown must pay back the money

he took from her two years ago.

We wrote to Peter Brown to ask him for his comment

and he hasn't responded.

I'm going back to Huddersfield to see Zahida.

Well, it's been a long, hard road, Zahida.

But you've finally won your case.

'Zahida took a piece of evidence to court

'which proved a crucial factor in her case -

'her spare key to the scooter that Peter Brown sold her,

'advertising his trading name Drivability.'

Can I have a look at that?

So this has got his company name on it, and his telephone number,

and he said that you bought the scooter from a different company.

Well, absolutely. You've won all the damages you've asked for.

And how long has he got to pay them?

So in 14 days' time, you should be able to buy a new scooter.

So, Zahida, are you glad that you stood up to him?

Zahida is absolutely right.

Not getting away with it is why we should use the courts to

stand up to people who try and take advantage of us.

Peter Brown didn't listen to Zahida, but the judge did.

Now she's won her case and must be paid back in full.

Joanne won her case, and got back all the money she was owed.

Taking your case to court can be very hard work, stressful,

and of course there are no guarantees of success,

but the law is there for everyone, and, when all else fails,

we can use it to claim back what is rightfully ours.

Zahida and Joanne certainly did.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd