Episode 1 The Sheriffs Are Coming

What do you do if you're ripped off and don't know where to turn?

I outlined the faults in the vehicle. He rejected all those.

A court of law backs you, but you still don't get your money.

You can't do that. It's illegal. I didn't think they'd do it to me.

It's time to call the sheriffs.

We have every right to enter the premises by force, if necessary.

We will be entering that building.

Sheriffs are High Court enforcement officers,

who recover what a court judgement says is owed.

The writ orders us to come here

and seize goods to the value of this debt.

They're the experts in getting cash that's rightfully yours.

?1,323.

But fighting for the underdog is not a job for the faint-hearted.

I will back that truck through your windscreen!

Debtors aren't pleased to see them.

Because they hate paying up.

Are you happy for me to leave you some paperwork? No, I'm not, go away!

In today's programme,

26-year-old Helen Sargent suffered a traumatic experience at work.

I managed to break free

and just ran out of the office as soon as I could.

Helen won her sexual-harassment case,

but her ex-boss never gave her the money she was awarded.

Can the sheriffs put that right?

Crunch day is today.

You need to sort out what you can sort out.

Sheriff Pete tries to track down the manager

of a construction company which owes a former employee ?8,000.

KNOCKING

I can't see the guy's car that we spoke to earlier.

And Dr Benedict Henry bought a car which was a disaster from day one.

The dealers refused to fix it or give him his money back.

He did inform you that he knew the law

and he just rejected my return of the vehicle.

The sheriffs pay them a visit and, when things get heated,

the police race to the scene.

Helen Sargent lives in Epsom, Surrey.

Helen needs the help of the sheriffs after a distressing experience

at an office where she used to work.

In 2005, Helen started a job as a PA to a mortgage adviser.

Initially, she got on well with her boss and everything was fine.

He seemed quite friendly, chatty, confident.

He seemed able to offer me a lot.

He talked about the job prospects

and the things that I could learn and things like that.

But after a few weeks, Helen, who was just 20 at the time,

sensed a change of atmosphere in the office.

I started noticing sexual remarks and jokes and innuendos

and they seem to be happening more frequently than when I first started.

And it began to get uncomfortable.

And it wasn't just talk.

Soon after starting,

Helen was told about a rather disturbing daily ritual.

I was informed that the routine when we arrived

and when we left was a kiss on the cheek.

And so we'd have to go up to him and he's kiss us on the cheek

when we first arrived in the morning and then when we left.

And I remember if we tried to get away with not doing this

and go straight to our desks,

he would ask where his kiss this morning was.

Two months after Helen started,

the inappropriate behaviour reached a whole new level.

I think I was working to about seven o'clock.

He'd stayed in the office, as well,

and as I got up to say goodbye and kiss him on the cheek,

um, his hand wandered down and started groping my bottom.

And he was holding me in an embrace I couldn't get out of,

because he was quite a big man.

And then I managed to break free

and just ran out of the office as soon as I could.

The situation began to impact on Helen's health

to the point where she started having panic attacks

and suffering from depression.

I wasn't sleeping, eating, wasn't really going out at the weekends

and I turned into a nervous wreck.

After six miserable months, Helen handed in her notice.

Finally, she found strength to tell her partner Chris,

and her parents, what had been going on.

As soon as I told my family,

I felt cushioned, like a huge relief that everyone knew

and that they were there for me.

They looked after me for the next couple of months.

They got me better again.

My mum and Chris, my husband, are responsible, um...

Sorry.

SHE SOBS

I just, um, don't know what I would have done without them.

After weeks of soul searching,

Helen decided to take her former boss to an employment tribunal.

I wanted to get justice for what had happened

and make him realise that it wasn't acceptable.

Just stop him from doing it in the future to anyone else.

Helen won her employment tribunal case and was awarded compensation.

The amount I was awarded was ?38,000

and that was a combination of injury to feelings,

which is to do with how it affected me and the stress it caused

and the panic attacks and ongoing depression that had come from it.

And, also, loss of earnings for the fact I couldn't go back

to full-time employment and I'd also lost a fairly good job

and been forced out of working there,

and they took that into account, as well.

But the tribunal just makes the award, it doesn't enforce it.

And Helen's ex-boss refused to pay up.

After four years of trying to get her money, Helen had little option.

She transferred her award to the High Court, got a writ

and asked the sheriffs to execute it.

It's 6.30am and High Court enforcement officers Lawrence Grix

and Kevin McNally are on their way to the home of Helen's former boss.

Enforcement officers, who are also known as sheriffs,

do a job that dates back to Saxon times.

Because of interest and court costs,

the figure owed by Helen's ex-boss is now ?44,000.

It's a large sum but Lawrence and Kev have discovered

he owns a valuable Harley-Davidson motorbike.

We've done a check on it. It is still registered to him.

It is clear of finance

and we're hoping to find that there when we arrive.

If we do, we'll immobilise it straight away.

With something like that, a motorbike, a car,

they can easily be driven away

if you don't secure them as soon as you see it.

And then we'll give him a knock and see what he's got to say for himself

and see what sort of payment he's going to make.

Lawrence and Kev have arrived.

They can't see the Harley out front, so they get out and search on foot.

Lawrence has spotted an alley down the side of the house.

Kev doubts it's wide enough for a Harley.

It's hardly wide enough for a Lawrence.

He's never going to get a motorbike down there, dipstick.

Get a mountain bike down there.

With no sign of the Harley, there's nothing else for it,

it's time to wake up Helen's former boss.

If he isn't in, Helen won't be getting her money today.

Unlike with commercial properties,

the sheriffs can't break in to debtors' houses.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

That's a bailiff knock.

Definitely not a postman.

Yeah, light's on.

Morning. I'm looking for a Mr Alan Finch. Would that be yourself, sir?

MAN INSIDE: No, sorry.

No, it's me. Mr Finch? Hello there, sir.

If you put a light on, I'll show you my identification.

My name is Mr Grix. I'm an enforcement officer.

I'm here today to reinforce the High Court writ

against you on behalf of a Miss Helen Sargent.

You were found liable at an employment tribunal, I believe.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah? I am here today for ?44,022.12.

How would you like to pay, sir? Yeah! Erm, I don't know. What's...?

Well, we need a significant payment.

We're here effectively for the full amount,

but I can understand you're not going to have ?44,000

sitting in your back pocket,

but I need to know what sort of payment you can make today

to at least get the ball rolling.

It's got to be something significant with this size of debt.

You'll be lucky to get that, it's as simple as that. Significant in what?

Well, what, you know, I'm not going to give you a figure.

You need to tell me what you can pay.

A couple of hundred pounds I could do.

That's not even going to scratch the surface.

44,000. I haven't got 44,000. I can appreciate that.

A couple of hundred is getting absolutely nowhere.

You need to raise at least the value of your goods within

the property, or we will remove them instead.

I rent a room here. You rent a room here? Yes. You can see, look.

Come in here and have a look.

Yeah, locks on everybody's doors, yeah.

So you're upstairs, are you? Yes.

It's bad news.

Rather than living in a house full of removable goods,

Helen's former boss lives in a rented upstairs flat.

Is there not somewhere you can borrow the money from?

We can take someone else's card or something? 44,000, I can't...

No, but, for a significant amount. No.

Can I have today to sort the...?

No, sir, we're here now. We will seize goods now.

You know where I am. With respect, sir, this goes back a couple of years

and you've not paid any of it.

So, when judgment was made against you at the tribunal,

you just thought, "Unless somebody chases me, I can forget it, then."

No, but... You know. Since I walked away on that day, I've had no...

It has been two years, Sir, you've not attempted to pay anything,

so we are certainly not going to go away and come back.

You know, crunch day is today,

so you need to go and sort out what you can sort out.

If the sheriffs do fail to get Helen any money,

she will only have to pay the initial ?60 court fee.

At this point, our camera operator was asked not to enter the building.

Negotiations continue behind closed doors.

After an hour, Kev emerges

and gets the chip-and-pin machine out of the car.

Perhaps things are looking up for Helen.

Half an hour later, Kev and Lawrence re-emerge.

But what is the result?

It turns out the property is just rented out as rooms

and all he's got is a room on the first floor, no real assets,

he had a flat screen TV.

An Apple laptop and an iPhone were about the major assets.

He had some model railway carriages,

which potentially have some value in them to somebody,

but really there was nothing there to seize.

No sign of the Harley-Davidson,

although he has got Harley memorabilia all over the place,

so we believe he's still got the Harley.

So, in the end, we've settled for ?1,000,

which is all he could come up with today.

He didn't even want to part with that, and,

to be fair, when you've got no leverage of any goods,

?1,000 was pretty good, really,

because the stuff in there would have raised probably 150 quid at auction.

So we've achieved more than we would have done

by seizing what few assets he had got.

But we still need to find the Harley-Davidson.

Personally, what I would do in this situation, because I drive

through this way on a regular basis to and from work,

is make a slight detour to come down this road

and see if the thing's ever outside his house. I'll carry my lock,

I carry a copy of the writ with me and, if I see it here,

I'll immobilise it and give him a knock

and, if necessary, take it away.

Lawrence also got Helen's boss to sign paperwork

which gives him access all areas if he does need to come back.

We can re-enter the premises at any time

to make sure the things we've seized are still there,

because they are supposed to remain on the premises.

If we need to, we can break in,

that's what the agreement empowers us to do,

because the goods we seized are no longer his property, technically.

They now belong to the court. So if we need to do that, we will do that.

But, for now, Lawrence and Kev will have to settle for ?1,000.

Just another 43,000 to go before Helen gets what she is owed.

Kev and Lawrence travelling to the next early-morning job

at a builder's home in Norfolk.

They've tried visiting him three times before,

but he's never been in.

The amount he owes one of his suppliers now totals ?8,500.

Everybody deserves to be paid for the services

they provided or the materials they provided.

If they're a small business,

a debt like this could have them on the edge.

So it's not for us to judge. Somebody owes the money we collect it.

They've arrived at the builder's house.

I'm sure I haven't seen that Jeep before. Wasn't there, was it?

The sheriffs usually go for a stealthy approach.

But Kev's got different ideas.

CAR HORN TOOTS

KEV SNIGGERS What are you beeping at me for?

Seeing a different car on the drive has raised Lawrence's hopes

he'll finally meet the builder in person.

And there's another clue that the builder is back from holiday.

Post been collected from last time. KNOCKS ON DOOR

Even if the builder is home, he may take some rousing at 7am.

There's a newspaper in there. Unless it's a local rag,

if you have a newspaper delivered,

you're normally in to read it, aren't you?

If necessary, Lawrence could get a tow truck

to remove the builder's car,

but first he needs to prove it belongs to the business.

Oh, look, it must be his vehicle.

Federation of Master Builders thing in the window.

This wasn't here last time, this Jeep. No.

Kev's just seen signs of life inside.

There you go.

Somebody here, is there?

Hello, sir. Hello.

I'm looking for a Clive Brown, would that be yourself?

I'll show you some ID, sir.

Mr Grix, I'm an enforcement officer.

We're here to execute a High Court writ.

You owe the sum in total of ?8,563.41.

If you can't pay that in full today,

we're here to remove goods to clear the debt.

We've left paperwork before and had no response from you.

I haven't seen any paperwork, because I haven't been here.

I've been abroad. And when did you get back, sir?

On 7th October. Right.

7th October? Yes.

We were here not that long ago.

We left mail in your box there,

which can't be opened by anybody who hasn't got a key,

so you have the letter, sir.

If I have, I've had it.

Right. I've put in for a winding-up order, anyhow.

We've been at the courts... Yeah. ..to go bankrupt.

Have you got paperwork, sir? They're still sorting it out.

Have you paid your ?500 to make yourself bankrupt?

My accountant paid it, should have done.

Right, have you got proof of that? Not here, no.

Right, has your accountant got proof of it? I should hope so. Yes.

Have you got a fax machine here?

Yes. Is he able to fax it over to you? I can speak to him at 10.

He gets in at 10, does he? That's going to be a bit too late.

If we've got no proof of that then, basically,

we're looking to remove that vehicle today to clear the debt. Yeah?

Yeah. Or, can I give you a cheque? Don't take cheques, sir.

Cleared funds. But we don't take cheques.

Cards, we do credit cards, debit cards, we do cash.

You can do a bank transfer online.

I can pay you some on a card,

but I haven't got a card that would take it all.

I can pay you some on the card and...

How much can you pay on the card, sir?

Um, ?3,000.

Right, have you got another card you can pay the rest on, or anything?

How much...? When you say you're going to give us a cheque

you were going to give us a cheque for the full amount? Well...

The builder asks for the camera to stay outside

while he negotiates with the sheriffs.

His offer goes up to 5, then ?7,000.

And, finally, the full amount, 8,500.

But he says he needs two hours to source the funds.

Kev gets the debit-card machine

and Lawrence breaks some bad news about overtime charges.

Unfortunately, we charge ?181.50 an hour waiting time.

You get the first hour.

We were here at dead on seven so you get to 8 o'clock free.

If it goes to quarter past, I'll cut you some slack,

if we get near the next hour, nine o'clock,

then I will be charging the hour's waiting time.

We'll try and do our best for you.

The builder rapidly finds the funds.

That's it. OK.

It's mission accomplished.

Here is your one, Mr Brown.

OK, Mr Brown, thank you.

Lawrence and Kev's persistence

paid dividends for the builder's supplier owed the money.

Take care.

Initially, he offered 3,500. We pushed and then he offered five,

we pushed some more.

I asked him to show me what he had in the account.

He had 7,000 in basically a brand-new account, so we took that

and he offered the a card for his old account for the balance.

So it's paid in full.

Without any drama at all.

But he didn't want his vehicle to go.

That was our leverage, the vehicle sitting on the drive.

Successful job, fourth time lucky. We don't give up.

If we know somebody's there, we'll come back and back and back and back

until we get what we want.

8am and sheriff Pete Spencer is on his way

to Southern UK Road Services in Manchester.

The company owes ?8,000 to Lesley McGowan-Stonier,

a former employee unfairly dismissed after being signed off sick.

She took the company to a tribunal and they settled out of court.

But the company still hasn't paid Lesley,

so she got a High Court writ for the cash.

For Pete and his colleagues, business is booming.

There seems to been that much debt around,

or people trying not to pay things,

and it's generally the innocent people, really,

that haven't done anything wrong that are owed the money

and a lot of companies out there

are trying to get away from not paying what's owed.

Pete's arrived, but the business is all closed up.

Sheriffs are allowed to scale fences

and climb walls to get into commercial properties if necessary.

But, understandably, Pete doesn't fancy that here.

On the plus side, there are vans in the car park.

If they belong to the business, he could remove them

to help clear the debt.

This potentially could be one of theirs,

so I'll see if I can get a reg number off this.

There's nobody about.

We'll hang around for 15 or 20 minutes, just in case

they do start at nine o'clock,

we've got a couple of reg numbers of vehicles on the compounds,

so we'll levy them

and leave a levy sheet

and we'll get the office to HPR and DVLA-check them

as well, to see if they come back to them and they're finance free.

Things are looking up. Someone's arrived.

Hi, good morning. Hello.

Southern UK Road Services Ltd?

I'm an enforcement officer enforcing a High Court writ today. Right.

That's my identification. Yeah.

It's regarding the claim of Lesley McGowan-Stonier

against, obviously, this company that we're visiting.

?7,873.75. Right. We're looking for payment today.

Or we potentially could be removing vehicles.

There is a colleague of mine who is supposed to be dealing with this.

He's not in at the moment. What time will he be in, do you know?

Probably a bit after 10, but what I'll do is, um...

Do you want to try getting him on the phone

and see if you can give you information regarding it?

It might be another option. Can you give me five minutes? Fine, yes.

A quick question. I've taken the vehicles as staff vehicles

and I've listed them,

but there's no point with them being staff vehicles.

We've got the other vehicles up here, anyway.

I just thought then I'd chat to him to get myself in the yard,

so now we can list some more vehicles.

The guy you need to talk to, I've just spoken to him,

he's on his way in but he won't be in until later.

OK, do you know what time?

I think it's going to be something like between 10 and 10.30.

If you come back a bit later, I'll talk to him. 10 o'clock? Right, OK.

That's fine. Somebody will be here about ten-ish. OK.

Cheers, thank you. Sorry about that.

I'm not trying to be evasive.

No, that's fine. No problem, we'll pop back about ten-ish.

10am is an hour away. Pete will have to bide his time.

Dr Benedict Henry is a psychologist in London,

who needs the help of the High Court enforcement officers

after a car purchase went wrong.

This is the car, which I bought from Car Club London.

It hasn't worked at all for a number of months. They are aware of that.

The Audi A3 cost Ben over ?4,000,

but it broke down within days of him buying it.

An Audi garage said it needed over ?2,000 of repairs.

Ben took it back to where he bought it from.

I outlined the Sales of Goods Act and my consumer rights,

but he rejected all those.

I outlined the faults in the vehicle. Again, he rejected those.

I was left with no reasonable resolution to the problem

at that point.

He did inform me he knew the law, and that's a quote.

He said, "I know the law with regards to car dealing."

He'd been doing it for three or four years, he said.

And he just rejected my return of the vehicle to his premises.

Ben was convinced the dealer was in the wrong.

He studied consumer law on the internet

and went to the County Court to try to get his money back.

To be honest, I wasn't that hopeful, because I assumed they wouldn't pay.

Because they'd stopped any correspondence with me.

They avoided accepting any responsibility for things

and they hadn't dealt with me in a professional manner at all.

I assumed that things probably wouldn't go in my favour.

But Ben did get judgment in his favour in the court case.

However, that wasn't the end of the story.

Even though the verdict went Ben's way,

the car dealer still didn't give him his money back.

So Ben went to the High Court to get a writ.

Now, sheriffs Kev and Lawrence

are on their way to the car dealership in London to execute it.

If the dealers don't play ball, the officers will remove cars,

auction them, and give the proceeds to Ben.

We're looking for just under ?5,500.

If the company is still there, it is a limited company,

that they will have sufficient stock to warrant them paying us.

But you never know.

It could have changed to another company.

It could be different people there altogether.

We won't know until we get there.

But I'm hoping that the actual defendant company

will still be there and I have plenty of stock on the forecourt.

The sheriffs need to track down the owner of the dealership.

That's easier said than done.

The office is deserted.

So they try phoning him.

My name is Mr Grix.

I'm an enforcement...

Grix. G-R-I-X.

I'm an enforcement officer

and I'm here today to execute a High Court writ.

I'm here... Execute a High Court writ.

I'm here today to seize your stock on the forecourt

to clear a debt of ?5,567.09.

Your vehicles are going to be seized

and, if necessary, removed to cover the debt.

Any vehicles on the forecourt that will cover the debt.

You've sold the business to someone else. They've opened a new company.

Right.

They're in the process of opening it?

They're in the process of opening it?

Right, so they're not trading yet?

Right, so all these vehicles here are your responsibility, sir.

All these vehicles here are your responsibility, aren't they?

You are alleging that these are customers vehicles, OK?

So, presumably, if the new company is not trading yet,

you're still trading.

So you're selling these vehicles on behalf of the customers?

So you need to come down with your paperwork to verify that, sir.

Yes, we're going to wait here, yes.

You need to do that as soon as possible, sir.

OK. Bye-bye.

For Lawrence, past experience proves

he has to move quick in this kind of scenario.

You can only hit once with a car dealer. Because the stock will go.

It just won't be here.

Someone has arrived to talk to the High Court enforcement officers.

He says he is the owner's brother.

My name is Mr Grix.

I'm an enforcement officer.

I'm here to execute a High Court writ on behalf of Dr Benedict Henry

against Car Club London Ltd

and I'm here today to seize goods to the value of ?5,567.09.

The only way to prevent that happening is to pay in full, sir.

OK. We have been speaking to the solicitor. Yeah?

I can give you the solicitor's phone number.

I don't wish to speak to the solicitor.

Speak to the court about it. Right.

I just called her, she is out for lunch. Right.

I don't need to speak to the solicitor, sir.

I have a High Court writ.

Which orders me, it orders me to come here

and seize goods to the value of this debt. I've got a right.

Yeah. I've got a right, like, to stop this.

Yeah, legally, our solicitor is going to speak to the court.

We have a live writ and we are here today to seize goods

to clear the debt. Whatever your solicitor is doing,

speaking to the courts, there is a High Court writ active.

This is live now. Which is why we're here.

Your brother just told me none of the vehicles here belong to the company.

They belong to third parties.

You're selling them on behalf of private individuals,

which I find very hard to believe.

He also told me the business is no longer running,

it's been sold to another company.

It's not sold yet. We are actually selling it.

That's not what your brother told me. It might be misunderstood.

Maybe you misheard it.

But he said we haven't sold it yet.

It's not been sold yet.

We are the owners. Yeah, he's here, he's on his way.

That's cool if he's here, but there is a writ.

These vehicles belong to Car Club London?

You're selling them yourselves?

You're not selling them on behalf of the parties are you? I don't know.

You don't know? You work together, but you don't know. He's the owner.

The man may not be the owner, but he's sure he knows

what the owner's going to say when he arrives.

He's not giving no money. You can't even seize the cars, you can't.

Why's that? It's his premises.

We have a live writ.

You understand the writ is the end of the system?

Yeah, but, we didn't know that.

This case is proving far from straightforward.

It doesn't look like they are going to be willing to pay very easily.

They seem to be arguing the toss, that it's still with solicitors,

which it's not, so we'll see what happens.

But I don't think payment's going to be forthcoming on this one,

but there are assets here.

Half an hour later, the owner arrives.

My solicitor has already contacted the court. With a view to what?

With, obviously, whatever the situation, he's dealing with it.

The writ is still live and enforceable.

We can enforce this writ today, now.

Just because your solicitor has written to the court, or whatever,

it doesn't stop our action today.

The writ is live.

The writ orders us to come here and seize goods

to the value of this debt.

The case is under process, anyway.

So you're adamant you're not going to pay?

Sorry? No. We're not. Right.

OK, I'm going to call the trucks to get some of these vehicles removed.

Hello, it's Lawrence, who's that?

I need Cathy to order me, I would say, three tow trucks

to take vehicles away from this forecourt.

Yeah.

The tow trucks should arrive within the hour.

The brother threatens to call 999.

If it makes you happier, call the police. OK?

We like the police.

I'm surprised they've gone for that option.

I am. I think they're foolish, but there you go.

The brother's a proper barrack-room lawyer.

I know this, I know that, and he actually knows...

not a lot.

So with the tow trucks and the local police on their way,

the stand-off in Southall continues.

Back in Manchester, Pete returns to the construction company

for his 10 o'clock appointment

with the consultant who's dealing with the debt.

I've got some more vans coming back in.

I'll quickly get that reg number.

Another one to add to the list.

I'll pop back in here and see what's happening.

HE KNOCKS AT DOOR

HE KNOCKS AT DOOR

I can't see the guy's car that we spoke to earlier.

He's probably done one. I'll give him a quick call.

There's no answer from the mobile.

Just when Pete was starting to think he'd been duped,

the manager returns.

And he has news.

Hiya. You OK? Yeah. I'm going to deal with it. OK?

Um, now I've been speaking to Steve

and he's dealing with it with lawyers.

Right. He said serve the papers. Yeah. Whilst we are trying to deal

with the lawyers right now and to get this sorted,

and we are going to get it sorted one way or another.

So if you serve the papers on me we will resolve this.

What is he trying to resolve as such? A payment. A payment? Yeah.

Now, he's trying to do a deal based on the fact that the company

doesn't have any money at the moment. We have limited funds.

So he's trying to arrange either a payment plan, or a lump sum,

but that is in his hands.

That can be done through me. We take an initial payment.

We can sort a payment plan out.

He's not here, he's dealing with the lawyers.

If you give me your contact details.

It's all on the paperwork. Fantastic.

What I've done is list the vehicles in the yard, that I explained before.

We're not removing them, but we have levied them to protect the debt.

As you'll find out, they do not belong to our company.

The traffic-light trailers and generators,

have you got evidence of who owns those?

There'll be something somewhere but I don't have that right now,

but we can forward any information to you.

Have you got anything on site you can show us

to prove who owns what, that I've levied?

I wouldn't know where to start to look for it.

We can get some information to you in the next few days,

if that's acceptable.

That's fine. OK.

By listing the trucks,

Pete has increased the pressure on the business to pay the debt soon.

Can you read that, it's a walking possession agreement,

which means we will not move any goods today. All right.

The businessman has just five days to find the paperwork Pete is after.

If he can't establish his business doesn't own the vehicles,

Pete can remove them to settle the debt.

He said he can't put his hands on paperwork at the moment

to prove what belongs to them and what doesn't belong to them.

But there are enough goods there that could possibly be in their name,

so we would look to remove those if they don't make a payment.

And if they don't make a payment, Pete will be back,

and, next time, he'll have his tow trucks with him.

We asked Southern UK Road Services to comment.

They say they are a caring and nurturing business.

We will return to this story later in the series.

At his home in London, Dr Ben wakes to find out how the sheriffs

are faring at the car dealership that sold him a faulty car.

The owner of the dealership has spoken to his solicitor again

and is trying to buy more time.

We need seven days,

yeah, for, obviously, a solicitor to get the letters back from the court.

And, obviously, we'll take it from there. No.

Why is that, because, obviously...? Because we have a live writ.

Let me just... You have to give notice. No, we don't.

You can't just come straight in. No, we don't.

You can't take the cars. Yes, we can. No, my friend. Yes, we can.

What I'm saying is we need seven days' notice so the solicitor

gets a letter back from the court, as well.

Obviously, they're going to set aside, anyway,

because we weren't present at the judgment

plus we didn't get the post.

So the court has to, obviously, consider all the circumstances

and then... Right. ..take it from there.

Everything you've said is correct,

other than the fact that you don't get seven days,

you don't get any time.

We're here with a live writ, as I've said to you.

The only way to prevent further action today is to pay.

I can't make the payment today. If I could, I would have.

The stuff's going to go, then.

With the dispute going nowhere, the local constabulary enters the fray

and Lawrence uses the opportunity

to tell the car dealer his overtime is building up.

We got here at 1:15

and we charge ?181.50 plus VAT per hour waiting time.

So you're now on two hours' waiting time,

so you've got another ?363 plus VAT. What time?

1:15.

I just spoke to my solicitor.

BROTHER: What we are doing is we can pay you some sort of money now.

It needs to be all of it. Sorry? It needs to be all of it.

It needs to be all of it? The full amount.

The reason being we are ordered here to remove, to seize goods

to the value of what's on the paperwork.

As far as the sheriffs are concerned, it's all or nothing

and they have strict rules about the form of payment, too.

OK, we'll give you the money. I'll get my cheque book.

We don't take cheques.

A company cheque? Don't take cheques.

So? Cleared funds. KEV: Debit card, credit card.

Bank transfer, credit card, debit card. Any amount of cards.

BROTHER: You expect someone to keep 5,000 in their pocket?

It's a company cheque. We don't take checks.

Where does it say that that you can't accept cheques?

"Payment must be made to this office only..." Blah, blah, blah.

"Cash, banker's draft,

"building society cheque..." which isn't a cheque,

it's equal to a banker's draft from a building society,

"or credit or debit cards."

We do not take cheques.

If you can write a cheque, you can pay by debit card.

We've got a chip-and-pin machine.

And we can put it through.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

I'll just work out exactly how much it is for you.

If my calculator's got enough digits!

Because a cheque will go ba-doing, doing, doing.

That will be the end of that.

How are you paying? Card.

Card?

Debit or credit? Debit.

I've got the key, I'll get it. Right. The amount is now ?6,056.69.

Do you want to make a receipt first? No. A receipt first?!

I'm going to pay you.

You'll get a receipt after it's been paid.

Do you mind if we stand in here, out of the rain?

Cheers. Otherwise the paperwork will get wet

and I won't be able to write on it.

At last, three hours after they arrived,

Lawrence and Kev achieve their objective.

OK. I will now issue you a receipt.

Just take that.

Dr Ben will get his money.

All that remains is the paperwork

and Lawrence doesn't want to hang about.

You get a copy of that, which is the additional expenses form.

You get that, which is the first part of a notice of seizure.

You get that, which is the second part of the notice.

You get that, which is the inventory that goes with the notice.

It's job done.

Lovely. Thank you very much indeed. Thanks, guys.

OK. We're going. Thank you very much.

Lawrence's ten-year experience as a sheriff helped him

stay one step ahead of the car dealers.

They all know this and know that. That's the problem you have.

If people just listened to you and you could tell them actually

how it is, and they took it in and understood it, you'd be all right.

But when they've got half a dozen people advising them different things

and none of them really know what's going on,

it just makes it very awkward and the water gets very muddied.

With their mission accomplished, Lawrence and Kev return to base.

Dr Ben is about to find out what happened

when the sheriffs visited the car dealers.

They received payment of ?6,061.69 paid by debit card.

End of report.

So that looks like I've got my money back. Very happy.

Very happy that I went with the sheriffs.

Just very happy it's been resolved, actually and, yeah,

hopefully, I've learned a lesson

and, hopefully, these guys have, as well.

"Debtor attitude - uncooperative.

"Police in attendance."

That's brilliant. That's a good end. Great stuff.

It's now a month since Pete went to Southern UK Road services.

After his visit, they made a repayment proposal

to the former employee owed money, but it was rejected.

Soon, Pete will be back and, this time, he won't leave empty-handed.

In addition to the cash retrieved by Lawrence and Kev,

Dr Ben also managed to reclaim over ?600

in insurance and servicing costs,

which he forgot to put through the courts.

He hasn't bought a new car yet, but, next time,

he's going to be more careful where he buys it.

And it's now two months since Helen Sargent's former boss

was visited by the High Court enforcement officers.

Lawrence and Kev are trying to negotiate a monthly payment plan

that Helen is happy with.

At the moment, he is offering to pay the debt over a 15-year period.

Helen is determined to wait as long as it takes.

I'm not going to stop until the debt's been paid.

It was ordered for a reason

and he shouldn't be able to get away with it.

It's not over until he's paid up in full.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd