Episode 10 The Sheriffs Are Coming

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

I did outline all the faults.

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

Little did I know how long it would take to recover the money from him. Sorry...

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 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 isn't a job for the faint-hearted.

I'll back through your windscreen!

-Debtors aren't pleased to see them...

-They're harassing me!

-..and hate paying up.

-Are you happy for me to leave you some paperwork?

-No. Go away!

In today's programme...

If you did three months' work, you'd expect to get paid for it,

but in Yasmin Shattur's case, 12 weeks' work at a pharmacy earned her nothing.

I'm just small fry, but I have earned this money.

Lawrence takes on a lawyer in pursuit of Yasmin's cash.

-I'm asking you for the third time for your boss's name.

-Just phone the office.

-What's his name?

The Sheriffs get given the cold shoulder when they chase up a debt in Derbyshire.

We're putting your phone through the cat flap.

And the Sheriffs are back on the trail of the builder who took an 86-year-old

for over £4,000 of shoddy and unnecessary roofing work.

Don't let him escape.

Get him by the tail or anything!

Hopefully there won't be no trouble. If we need the police, we'll give them a call.

A couple needing the Sheriffs' help are Yasmin Shattur and her husband Al-Nasir.

A professional pharmacist, Yasmin was working at a local chemist in north-west London

when she decided she wanted to leave and become self-employed.

The company owner, Bijal Patel, convinced her to stay on an extra month

as he was winding up the business.

Mother of two Yasmin agreed as a favour.

In the end, she stayed on for three extra months,

but when she invoiced for payment, she got nothing, no matter how hard she chased.

He would never answer the phone. Whenever I used to phone the office,

the manager would always give me an excuse -

either he's out of town or he will pass on the message or he's not in the office.

With her phone calls getting nowhere, Yasmin tried writing to Mr Patel,

but her letters were also ignored.

Yasmin wasn't prepared to give up on the money she was owed.

'I felt very strongly because I have provided services

'and I have worked for it. That is how I felt about it.'

An individual should not be able to get away with something like this.

I'm just, to put it very simply, small fry,

but I have earned this money. I have worked for it.

'So I genuinely felt that this was not fair.'

Yasmin took Green Oaks Pharmacy to the Small Claims Court.

It took two years to come to court, but when it finally did, Green Oaks didn't attend.

The court awarded Yasmin £5,874, which she feels goes some way to vindicating the strain involved

in pursuing her case.

'If you count the effort,'

the paperwork, the stress, the interest...

-Over two years.

-..including everything, it wouldn't justify that amount,

but I think we would feel justified in having seen it through

and, I suppose, feeling that we did the right thing.

But since the judgment's been made, Yasmin's still not received the money she's owed,

so she and AlNasir have been forced to turn to the Sheriffs.

More than the amount, I think I would be overjoyed to get the... What do you call it? Justice.

Tasked with getting Yasmin back her money are Sheriffs Kev McNally and Lawrence Grix.

We're on our way to Pinner.

To Green Oaks Pharmacy Ltd.

And we're out looking for £8,258.02.

The Sheriffs park up near the pharmacy and head in, but there's a problem.

I take it neither of you are the owner or a director of Pharmacare?

-It's soon apparent the business is now run by different people.

-Thanks very much for your help.

The company we are looking for is no longer there. They don't match the description of the debtor.

He's the director of the debtor company.

So we'll go to the office address now that we've got.

So it's back to the van.

The Green Oaks Pharmacy main office is only a few miles away.

As they arrive, Lawrence spots something that could be crucial.

A Range Rover Sport with the same registration number as one owned by Bijal Patel.

-That's him there, innit?

-If it belongs to Green Oaks, the Sheriffs could remove and auction it.

Lawrence notes the Range Rover's details and then heads in, writ in hand.

Hello there. We're looking for Green Oaks Pharmacy Ltd.

You've got a Mr Bijal Patel at any of the companies?

-I believe it's his Range Rover out the back.

-A bemused secretary can't help Lawrence.

She says no Green Oaks Pharmacy is operating from this address,

but Lawrence doesn't give up that easily. He's convinced Bijal Patel has businesses

and potentially assets in the building. He makes a call to the office for more information.

What's the status of Green Oaks?

Kev goes out to clamp the Range Rover.

If the Sheriffs can't get payment today, Lawrence will look for a walking possession order on it.

It means the Range Rover is seized, but not removed.

The owner has five days to contest it. If not, the Sheriffs can tow it away to be sold at auction

to pay back Yasmin.

Seeing a clamp on the car might bring the owner down in a hurry.

So we might then make contact and can ascertain one way or the other if it belongs to our debtor company.

But Kev's got a problem.

Hello, Kev.

-Yeah, mate, this clamp doesn't fit anywhere near.

-I knew it wouldn't.

-I did warn you.

-All right, mate. I'll wait out here anyway.

There's nothing else for it. Kev has to keep an eye on the car so it's not driven away,

and time is ticking on.

The judgment amount when we came here was £8,258.02.

It's now more than that because we've done an HPI check and we've been here over an hour.

But a £20,000 vehicle covers that.

With two Sheriffs on site and Lawrence making Reception his own,

it's not long before Green Oaks Pharmacy Ltd shows an interest.

The company lawyer gives Lawrence a call. In particular, he's concerned about the Range Rover.

I am trying at the moment to establish ownership of the vehicle. I have got it seized at the moment.

And I'm trying to ascertain ownership.

With the phone call going nowhere, the lawyer comes down in person for a face to face with Lawrence.

-Looking for me?

-We spoke earlier.

-Who are you, sir?

-The solicitor?

-Yes.

-I'll show you some identification.

The solicitor says Green Oaks Pharmacy isn't at this address, so nor should Lawrence be.

Now you've come here and if you look at the company accounts, this is not the registered address.

-I haven't got the company accounts, have I?

-I suggest you do.

Your company, obviously, presumably they are amicable... they know what they are doing.

-Yeah.

-A company search will give the registered address.

-What's that got to do with the company accounts?

-You need to go to the place...

-No, we can go to any address in England and Wales

where we believe the defendant has assets.

There are no assets here, as far as I know. This is harassment from you.

-Not at all, sir.

-It is. What you told me on the phone is that you can seize any car.

-Isn't that what you told me?

-I did.

-Any car?

-I can seize any vehicle

if I believe it may belong to the debtor in order to ascertain ownership of the vehicle.

-How do you know any car out there belongs to them?

-The details of that vehicle, the registration number,

I have been given by our claimant. She's given us that as the registration number

of the director of the company. So I have seized the vehicle to ascertain ownership.

-If it's owned by him personally, I can't take it.

-It doesn't belong to anybody in the company.

Well, whoever owns that vehicle... As you can appreciate, it's a vehicle, so it's in jeopardy.

It's moveable. Within two minutes of me turning my back, it would be driven away.

-I need whoever owns that vehicle to prove ownership.

-How much time are you giving us?

-Not very long.

I've been here nearly two hours now. Nobody actually from the company has had the courtesy

to get in touch, despite the fact I'm pretty sure they know we're here. OK?

-All they've done is sent you round to fob me off for seven days.

-All we are saying to you

is this is a judgment on which they know nothing.

The solicitor says the company is not aware of the court order and warns the enforcement officers

to keep away from the Range Rover, which he says is not a company asset.

But Lawrence wants to see proof of ownership.

-You can't say, "I want it now!"

-I can.

-This is harassment.

-I can.

-No, it isn't harassment.

-BBC, this is total harassment from this company.

-You'd better take the chap's name as well. It's total harassment.

-They know my name very well.

-The solicitor asked to speak to Lawrence's boss.

-You've got the numbers.

-What's your boss's name?

-You've got the numbers.

-I'm asking you for the third time, what's your boss's name?

-Just phone the office.

-What's his name?

-And ask for a director.

-All right, I'll do that now.

-I think I'll get more sense out of them.

-While he does that, Lawrence gets busy, too.

I'm doing an additional expenses form for the costs of the HPI check I did and the waiting time.

He decides to call in the ultimate sanction to see if it will speed things along.

Can you order me a truck, please? Yeah, it's got to take a Range Rover Sport,

so it'll need a full lift. They won't be able to tow it.

It'll need lifting onto the back of a truck. It's permanent four-wheel drive, isn't it?

It turns out both men are on the phone to Lawrence's office, but for very different reasons.

-All right, lovely.

-Lawrence has prepared the paper seizure of the Range Rover.

-There you go.

It can't be disposed of until the ownership issue is resolved.

If you sign that now, I'll cancel the tow truck. I've ordered a tow truck now.

-Sign that and I'll cancel it.

-Yeah, fine.

Lawrence has won his battle.

The solicitor signs the seizure documents.

All right, Soph, can you ask Cathy to cancel the tow truck, please?

-It's taken three hours, but it's another mission accomplished for Lawrence.

-Thank you.

Sorry to be a pain.

The car is his - on paper, at least. And he won't leave it there.

The Sheriffs will continue to chase Green Oaks' assets until Yasmin is paid back in full.

David Carter is joint managing director of this High Court Enforcement Office in London.

Recovery rates of enforcement officers are far greater than bailiffs.

Part of the reason is we're paid on results. We're not salaried.

And the second reason is that we have greater powers of seizure

and forcing entry to premises.

40 full-time enforcement officers work here.

They aim to enforce writs within 24 hours of the case being assigned.

-You can't stop me.

-I can.

-You can't.

-Lawrence and his colleagues successfully retrieve

over £2 million a month for people owed money.

Over 70,000 High Court writs a year are executed by Britain's enforcement officers,

who have been known as Sheriffs since Saxon times.

I have a High Court writ, which orders me to come and seize goods to the value of this debt.

-£6,330.

-£6,300.

A High Court writ costs £60. If the Sheriffs are successful,

there's nothing more for the client to pay. All the costs are paid by the debtors.

And if they don't manage to get money back for their clients, there's only an admin fee,

also of £60.

But will Lawrence and Kev retrieve the funds owed to the next person needing their kind of assistance,

-Graham Millward?

-Come on. Let's go. Come on.

Graham's had to call in the help of the Sheriffs after he ran into problems buying a second-hand car.

With a daughter and two young grandchildren, he wanted to treat them to a holiday in Devon,

but to drive them there he needed to upgrade his wheels.

Most grandparents would say it's the most important thing in your life when grandchildren come along.

The idea was to get a people carrier so that we could all holiday together.

Graham went looking for a suitable vehicle at local dealerships,

but any that fitted the bill were just too dear.

Somebody suggested to us to look at eBay.

So we thought, "Yeah, we'll do that."

It wasn't long before he found a car being sold by a private trader, Jonathan Brassington in Derbyshire.

It may have been over two hours' drive away, but the seller had good feedback

-and the car, a Kia Sedona, was bang within budget.

-'Exactly what we wanted.

'It was a good car, good condition.'

Plenty of space, a lot of features we'd been looking for and that other people carriers don't have.

And it just seemed just a superb vehicle for what we required.

With the car ticking every box, Graham bid for it and won.

Delighted, Graham told his grandchildren the holiday was on.

My eldest grandson was over the moon because he was looking forward to going on the beach

with Nan and Granddad.

Not long after, Graham's son drove him to the seller's house to pick up the car.

Graham paid £2,470 in cash on the day

and set off in his new Kia Sedona for home. But things soon started to go wrong.

I was only approximately five miles away and I suddenly realised the temperature gauge was at the top.

So I immediately pulled into a lay-by,

and by this time I was panicking, and alarm bells were going

that the car I'd been sold was a problem car.

The first thing to come into your mind is, "I don't want this vehicle. It's a problem car.

"I've only driven five miles and it's broken down."

Convinced he'd been sold a wrong 'un, he left the Kia in the lay-by

and got his son to drive him back to the seller's house. Mr Brassington wasn't there.

-Instead, he sent a relative.

-Mr Brassington's son arrived probably ten minutes later

and then I said I just didn't want the vehicle, I just wanted my money back,

and he could collect the vehicle from the hard shoulder.

His words to me were, "That's not an option.

"You bought the car. The car is yours."

Mr Brassington's son did agree to go and look at the car in the lay-by.

When we got to the vehicle, he had a quick look at it and said, "The water's empty,"

which obviously didn't take a genius to work out.

He attempted to turn the engine over and said, "You're lucky it's not seized,

"because we have had experience before in a similar situation of the engine seizing.

"So you're very lucky." I said, "I'm very lucky, am I? Oh, right."

He said, "The chance of you getting your money back is nil, so don't even think about that."

The son agreed to take the vehicle home and assess the damage.

With night falling, Graham had to agree. The next day, Mr Brassington rang and offered to get quotes

for fixing the car. Graham waited for them, but nothing came.

He was left with no car and £2,470 out of pocket.

From that day to this day, I've not had any reply from him.

I've left several messages on his mobile phone and his home phone -

or from my recorded letters sent to him over a period of a couple of months.

With negotiations going nowhere, Graham had no choice but to take the matter to court.

Mr Brassington didn't contest the claim and the court awarded in Graham's favour.

The strain of going to court has taken its toll on Graham.

It never leaves your mind. You lie in bed at night, thinking of it.

How did I get drawn into this? Why are there people who won't even speak to you or compromise?

Despite having the law on his side, Graham's still not received any payment from Mr Brassington.

With nowhere left to turn, he's been forced to hire the Sheriffs.

Saddling up to try to get Graham his money back are Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev.

They're in the snowy north, on the trail of Jonathan Brassington.

We're in Derbyshire at the moment, on the way to what looks like a residential address.

One individual has sued another and we're looking to collect £3,696.74.

Arriving at the address, they tread carefully.

And at the front door, there's a reception committee waiting.

Hello there. I'm looking for a Mr Jonathan Brassington.

The woman answering is Mr Brassington's wife. She says he won't be back until the evening.

I'm an enforcement officer.

I'm here today to execute a High Court writ against Mr Brassington. Can you get him on the phone?

Then if he's happy for me to discuss it with you, we can discuss it.

Mrs Brassington wastes no time getting her husband on the phone.

Hello there, sir. My name's Mr Grix. I'm an enforcement officer here to execute a High Court writ

on behalf of a Graham Millward.

I'm here today for the sum of £3,696.74.

We've been ordered here today to seize goods or collect payment in full.

Mr Brassington isn't keen to pay, but admits he has seen the court papers.

When you sent the county court papers back, what did you send back?

Unfortunately, sir, he's got a judgment against you.

Well, you had the paperwork from the court, didn't you, because you returned it?

Mr Brassington still doesn't want to pay, and now claims he doesn't know about the court award,

but Lawrence isn't going to let him get away with that.

You've just told me you had the court papers and sent them back.

Yes, so you do know about it then, sir.

We're here to execute a High Court writ.

To prevent any further action, you need to pay this in full today.

Still unwilling to pay up, Mr Brassington asks to be passed back to his wife.

She's shut the door. I'll have to give it another knock. I don't think she wants to come to the door again.

Mrs Brassington no longer wants to talk to Lawrence.

All he wants to do is give her back her phone.

Open the door, Mrs Brassington. I'll give you your phone. Your husband wants to speak to you.

No...

I tried calling out to her, saying, "Come and get your phone," but...

Somebody called Don is trying to get you on the phone, Mrs Brassington.

Unable to get any further communication from the Brassingtons,

Lawrence takes a look around the property for other assets he could seize as a walking possession.

However, there's not much on offer.

I'll leave paperwork. She won't let us in.

I've got no option, other than to leave paperwork -

I've seized the bits I can seize, like the car.

Time for one more go at returning the phone.

Post it through the cat flap, Kev.

-Mrs Brassington, we're putting your phone through the cat flap.

-It's through the cat flap.

With no-one willing to communicate with them, there will be no payment today,

but it's by no means the end of the story for the Sheriffs.

There were no goods worth seizing on the outside of the house and we weren't going to get in.

Mrs Brassington appeared to be quite panicked and shut the door and wouldn't speak through the door.

No further communication at all.

For the time being, Graham Millward must wait to get his money back,

but he can be sure the Sheriffs will be doing everything in their powers to get him what he's owed.

6am, and this time Sheriff Kev is joined by Mark Newton.

They are on their way to the East Midlands for an early-morning rendezvous with a builder

who owes an elderly lady thousands.

Yeah, we're in Northamptonshire. We've come to visit Mr Fitzgerald, who we've been to before.

The Fitzgerald case is a classic example of the Sheriffs not giving up in their battle

to get their clients the money they are owed.

The elderly lady the Sheriffs are trying to help

is 86-year-old Hilda Shaw.

Previously in the series, we saw how she turned to the Sheriffs

after paying thousands for shoddy and unnecessary building work

by builder Alan Fitzgerald.

I was absolutely shattered. I was crying. I couldn't leave.

I realised the mess I was getting into and I couldn't say, "Stop!"

He told Hilda her roof was in a state of disrepair

and asked for £4,000 to fix it.

Luckily, Hilda's son Terry found out and stopped him,

but not before she had handed over the money.

I checked the guttering and it was running in the opposite direction.

You put a spirit level on it and it ran the opposite way.

I got on the phone and tried to get him off the property.

"Leave what you're doing now and get off the property!"

I went absolutely mental.

Alan Fitzgerald got an early-morning wake-up

when the Sheriffs paid him a visit

with a High Court writ in tow.

Hello!

He agreed to pay Hilda back the money he owed her.

-How much is it for?

-£6,636.

-£6,000?

-Mm-hm.

-Yeah.

-Are you sure it's me?

Yeah, Alan Fitzgerald, A-Z Builders.

Alan Fitzgerald's men didn't give the Sheriffs a fond farewell.

I will back that truck straight through your windscreen!

-Just go away, yeah?

-We're going now. Let's go.

But they were in no position

to argue with the orders of the High Court.

Alan Fitzgerald paid an £800 down payment

and promised £250 a week until the debt is cleared.

I was very pleased. I could hardly believe it. I felt there was hope

where I had felt so down,

as if I wasn't going to see any of my money any more.

But since the Sheriffs' visit, there's been a problem with Alan Fitzgerald's payments.

He's stopped making them, meaning Hilda is still thousands of pounds short of the money she's owed.

With interest and costs, the bill is now over £6,400.

But when it comes to builders owing money to senior citizens, the Sheriffs take a special interest.

Mark and Kev's boss Peter Watts has made it his personal mission

to see Hilda gets back every penny she is owed.

The defendant, as you know, has already defaulted on his next payment.

What we're going to do next is,

regrettably, we'll have to re-attend

and persuade the defendant that he's got to address the situation

and refund this money.

Encouraged by Peter's resolve,

Hilda is looking forward to seeing justice being done.

I do hope that if he's gone back on his word

that they really go after him again and make him,

demand that he should pay.

Don't let him escape.

Get him by the tail or anything!

And on their way to do just that are Mark and Kev.

Last time, they managed to get some payment out of Mr Fitzgerald,

but how will he react to their demands for the full outstanding amount?

Hopefully, he'll be OK. He's been OK when he's talked to me on the phone, but he's not paid any money,

so this time, we need to force the issue about getting him to pay.

While they never look for trouble, Sheriffs anticipate some people can react badly to their visits.

Mark has put the local police on notice that he might need to call them if things kick off.

Hopefully, there won't be no trouble,

but just judging by last time when people turned up, hopefully, that won't happen,

but if it does, we'll have to deal with that, and if we need the police, we'll give them a call.

In Mark's job, angry debtors are an occupational hazard.

Quite a few times, I've been hit with different things.

I've been hit by someone with a spade once before.

I've been punched countless times.

It's just part of the job, unfortunately.

The Sheriffs have arrived at the house.

The plan, to give Alan Fitzgerald a second early-morning wake-up call.

-Incognito. Come in stealth...

-Discreet.

-Stealth mode.

But today, there's no sign of anyone being home.

The blinds weren't down last time, were they?

-It's strange there's no dogs...

-Unless they're out with them.

Theories abound as to where Alan Fitzgerald is.

I think he is quite a heavy sleeper.

The last time, it took us ten minutes to get an answer, and the dogs were barking.

The Sheriffs park up and wait.

We won't get anywhere quick from here, so we might as well wait. We've made the effort to come here.

We'll wait till the sun comes up and then...

The indications are that he's away for the night.

Suddenly, a young man appears who seems to know Alan Fitzgerald.

The man says the builder's gone to Hartlepool, but should be back later in the week.

He don't half look like him, don't he?

-That guy looks like...

-I didn't notice.

-He looks like he could be his son.

With Alan Fitzgerald away, Mark uses his powers as a High Court Enforcement Officer

to issue a paper seizure on what assets he can see.

I'm just getting the vehicle regs.

I'll list them on an inventory, then pop it through his door, so we seize the two vehicles.

So we know we've got something while we're here today.

The Sheriffs set off for home,

but then there's another twist in this case.

Out of the blue, a call comes through from Alan Fitzgerald.

It is, yeah. Sorry, mate, I was just driving.

No payment's been made.

Alan Fitzgerald says he offered £4,000 as final settlement by e-mail,

but never heard back from the office.

Well, I'm not there no more. When are you back?

Right, I'll speak to my office. You offered the four grand as a final balance?

OK, I'll let them know you've said that. I'll get them to send you an e-mail.

I'll speak to my office when it opens and I'll give you a ring back.

No problem. Cheers, Alan. Bye-bye.

£4,000 is better than nothing,

but it's still a long way short of the £6,400 that Alan Fitzgerald owes Hilda and the Sheriffs.

Basically, he's wanting to pay four grand and that's it.

-It's more than that now.

-It's more than that.

-He's not hiding.

-No, he's not avoiding us. There was no need for him to ring us.

He's got straight on the phone, hasn't he, and sorted it.

-That is his son.

-Yeah.

-He said, "The boy's just rung me and said, 'There are people outside your house.'"

Mark believes Alan Fitzgerald is serious about paying,

even if he doesn't want to pay the full amount.

He's not denying the job. He said he's found out what the job's about now.

He said it's one of the other traveller fellas. That's the way he worded it.

He's willing to pay £2,000 of it, the other guy, and Alan will pay the other £2,000.

That's what they're saying.

I don't know. I don't know the ins and outs of the job, unfortunately.

All I know is that I've got a debt for £6,000-odd.

£6,400. And he's only offering £4,000.

So, um...

He might need to at least start paying...

If he started paying, we wouldn't be back here today, so we'll see if we can get him to pay some money.

There's nothing more Mark and Kev can do today.

Hilda is still waiting for her money.

But one thing's for sure - the Sheriffs are determined she'll get the payment she's owed

in good time and in full.

Mr Fitzgerald denies carrying out unnecessary work.

He thought Hilda Shaw was happy with the job he was doing and the only reason it wasn't completed

was because Hilda's son asked him to stop.

However, he has agreed to pay Hilda in full and has since initiated payment to her.

Another person who had to call on the help of the Sheriffs after buying a faulty second-hand car

is Gregory Benjamin.

He needs a 4x4 to help transport his disabled mother-in-law.

Are you all right there?

The car he used to own no longer fitted the bill.

I had a three-door Focus before,

but that wasn't big enough to get my mother-in-law Connie in

and her walking frame when we take her out or go shopping.

So I wanted something a bit bigger.

We looked around. We found what appeared to be a reputable dealer

that specialised in the one we like, which was a Mitsubishi Pajero.

Keen to test-drive the car, Gregory went up to the dealership to look at it.

Externally, it seemed adequate for what we were going to do.

It was quite old, but the price seemed reasonable for the condition he was claiming the vehicle was in.

We took it for a test-drive. It seemed to work OK when we drove round the industrial estate.

Loving the Pajero, Gregory gladly handed over £1,300 for it.

Once I'd bought the car, I was quite pleased with it.

It seemed just the job to fulfil the purposes that we required.

It was big, it was shiny, it was a four-wheel drive.

It was just what you want.

But it wasn't long before things started going wrong.

When we were driving back, the car started to smell a little bit from inside.

The temperature gauge was starting to rise quite rapidly.

When I pulled over, you could clearly see that there was steam coming out of it.

Water had ingressed into the oil coolant system.

Angry at what had happened, Gregory tried to get back in touch with the seller, Dean Rosenthal.

I rang him up and he said he'd come down and pick it up and repair it for us the next day.

But he never turned up.

I rang him again. He said he'd come down later in the week and he didn't.

I rang him up again and asked him to come and repair it

or I would be forced to take legal action against him.

He said, "That'll take several months and you won't get your money back

"and you still won't get the vehicle repaired."

I inferred from that that he had no intention of repairing the vehicle.

With no other avenues open to him,

Gregory was forced to go through with his threat and take Mr Rosenthal to court.

His case wasn't contested by the dealer and the court awarded in Gregory's favour.

But despite this, Mr Rosenthal has continued to avoid paying.

With nowhere left to turn, the only person that can help Gregory now is Sheriff Pete Spencer.

He is on his way to Manchester to try and track down Mr Rosenthal.

We're going to visit the address that we've got.

I believe some letters have been sent out there and have been sent back "Not known at this address".

But he's registered this particular address that we're visiting,

so hopefully, he'll be there this morning.

Pete gets to the address on the writ,

but the bad news is

Mr Rosenthal isn't there.

In fact, it appears he's long gone from this house.

It's empty. There's nothing inside at all.

Nothing for Pete to seize here, but he's as tenacious as a Sheriff gets.

Pete finds a second address for Mr Rosenthal, this time at a commercial premises.

His detective work on the phone proves highly illuminating.

The guy seems to be never there.

We spoke to the people in the next-door unit

and they said he's away buying and selling vehicles all the time.

It's hit or miss if he's going to be there, so hopefully today we'll get there.

If he's there, brilliant. If not, we'll try him on the phone and hopefully, he'll come down.

Pete's search for the elusive Mr Rosenthal continues,

but when he arrives at the commercial address,

his fears are soon realised.

Dean Rosenthal is not here either.

But on the plus side, some of his property is.

This unit here, the shutters and the door behind us, the landlord confirmed there is items in there.

Pete will seize the items if Dean Rosenthal doesn't pay what he owes,

and the moment of truth has arrived.

Pete's phone research again pays dividends. He has managed to track down the man himself.

I need to collect 3,332.01.

I've got a locksmith on standby and police on standby to break in and seize whatever goods are inside.

Yeah, I know. We've got a low-loader on standby

to come and collect eight vehicles, plus a transporter, to recover the cost.

Mr Rosenthal doubts Pete's threats, but he's deadly serious.

All Sheriffs have the power to enter commercial properties, using force if necessary.

I've got a warrant to break in today. That's why the police...

The next person for me to ring is the police and the locksmith and the low-loaders

to come and get the items out. They go off to storage, then get sold at auction.

Instead of just messing us around, get down here so we can deal with it. That's the best way to do it.

Pete's strategy seems to be working.

Within minutes, Mr Rosenthal arrives, in his own Pajero.

At this point, our camera operator is asked to leave.

The discussions continue behind closed doors.

Within minutes, Pete emerges with a bulging envelope.

That's the money in full collected today. There's a bit of waiting time put on as well.

And the total amount collected was £3,548.01.

Payment in full. The claimant will be getting their money,

so a good result.

Pete's tenacity has paid off, both for him and, more importantly, for Gregory,

who can expect a four-figure sum heading his way any day soon.

Since the Sheriffs met with Green Oaks Pharmacy's solicitor,

Yasmin and Al-Nasir have been told of the walking possession agreement on the Range Rover that he signed.

That's very good news. At least we have got a result.

They've done what nobody else has been able to do.

At least it's a beginning. Up until now, nothing had started,

so at least something's started.

-So it's the beginning.

-So we shall keep on fighting.

Lawrence and Kev have revisited the Brassingtons' house in Derbyshire.

They were hoping for more than the chicken feed they got last time,

but again they failed to lay eyes on Mr Brassington.

They clamped one of the cars to see if it would draw Jonathan Brassington out,

but not even that could raise him,

so they served papers and left.

They're currently investigating the ownership of the vehicles, with a view to a third visit.

And if they don't get Jonathan Brassington's attention then,

they'll seize and tow any cars they can prove he owns.

It's five weeks since Mark and Kev went to builder Alan Fitzgerald's house.

Following that visit, Mr Fitzgerald promised to arrange payment to Hilda.

And now, authorised High Court Enforcement Officer Peter Watts is making a special trip

to a certain lady, bearing good news.

-Come in.

-Thank you.

What I'm very pleased to be able to tell you

is that we've actually recovered £4,678...

-Oh, that's wonderful.

-..81p.

Oh, dear!

Thanks to the Sheriffs, Hilda has another happy memory to add to the list.

When Peter came along with this wonderful cheque

to bring this awful situation to a close...

It's absolutely wonderful.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd