Episode 6 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 in the vehicle. He rejected all those.

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

Little did I know how long it would take to try and 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 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 isn't a job for the faint-hearted.

I will back that truck straight through your windscreen!

Debtors aren't pleased to see them.

They're harassing me.

Because they hate paying up.

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

No, I'm not. Go away.

DOOR SLAMS SHUT

In today's programme...

..plumber Ray Millett paid for and fitted a full central heating system for a building company,

but he didn't get paid a penny.

To treat people in this way is pretty despicable, really.

Can the sheriffs get Ray his money back?

We're here to collect the payment, which is £11,100 now.

Sheriff Pete Spencer revisits a road services company

that owes a former employee thousands.

Listen, I'm a director of the company,

I'm now asking you to leave the premises.

-Phone the police.

-I will do.

-OK.

And when Jan Smith sold valuable items through a local auctioneers,

she expected a hefty cheque.

Instead, she got an antiques no-show.

I haven't had any money whatsoever.

It's just outrageous. It is outrageous.

The sheriffs go in search of the cash she's owed.

5:30am, the M40. Sheriffs Mark Newton and Kev McNally

are on their way to the Cotswolds

for an early-morning rendezvous with a builder who owes one of their clients over £11,000.

Obviously, first of all, we're going to try and get him to pay

before we start going down the route of lifting goods from his house.

You know, he may just accept the fact that he's got to pay

and sort it out, but we don't know, we don't know.

The man the sheriffs are there to help is plumber Ray Millet.

He's self-employed and therefore has to take work where he can find it

and he takes it on trust that he'll get an honest day's pay for an honest day's work.

At least, that's how he imagined it would be

when he came into contact with the building company RH Developments Cotswolds Ltd.

They were looking for a plumber to carry out work at two new houses

they were building at nearby Brackley.

The potential was good, it was a big job.

Two boilers involved, full central heating systems,

two bathrooms to be installed, so it was a reasonably big job.

For a one-man band, it was good work.

There was nothing on site that suggested to me that everything wasn't OK.

Unusually, the company asked Ray to provide

and pay for the systems he was going to be fitting.

Originally, they were going to supply, because I just,

if you like, was cautious.

Something told me that they should buy.

And then they made the excuse, well, this is out in the Cotswolds,

you're from Brackley, we're builders, not plumbers.

Can you not supply, and we'll just reimburse you at cost?

For the next two weeks, Ray got to work,

putting in long hours and weekends to make sure he got the job done.

He'd managed to fit one of the houses out completely

when he put in his initial invoice and decided to wait for payment before continuing.

But after several weeks of waiting,

there was no sign of the money he was owed.

Ray was left out of pocket and counting the cost.

The immediate losses, of course, were the boiler costs

and the material costs, which were just over £4,000.

That was what I immediately lost.

I also lost the £4,000 of labour costs.

That has a huge impact.

I was lucky at the time that I had tax savings,

and I used the tax savings to pay my suppliers.

Ray continued to chase his money, but got nowhere.

After a couple of weeks, I said, "Enough."

I then placed it in the hands of my solicitor.

Ray took RH Developments Cotswolds Ltd to the County Court.

The company didn't attend, and the court awarded in Ray's favour.

Despite this, to date, Ray hasn't been paid a penny of the money owed to him.

To treat people in this way is pretty shoddy

and it's pretty despicable, really.

Stronger words than that I'm sure I could use,

but I feel pretty bad about it.

It could put somebody bankrupt.

£8,000 plus is not a small amount of money,

and certainly not in today's economic climate.

It's a lot of money, and it is going to be difficult for me

to address that issue at the end of the month.

The court might have found in his favour,

but to get what he's owed, Ray's had to turn to the sheriffs.

I feel great.

If somebody's going to go knocking on this guy's door,

then he's getting what he deserves through the law, through the legal process,

and I have no problem with that whatsoever.

Tasked with getting Ray's money back is this High Court

-enforcement office.

-Good afternoon. How can I help?

They deal with over 12,000 cases a year

and retrieve over £2 million a month for people owed money.

Oh, that's brilliant. That looks like I've got my money back.

Executing High Court writs is a job that dates back to Saxon times.

Sheriffs have more powers than bailiffs to enter properties, seize goods

and auction them to settle debts.

Basically, we are looking to remove that vehicle today, to clear the debt.

And they only take on debts of over £600.

We're looking for just under £5,500.

Every year, over 70,000 High Court writs are executed by High Court enforcement officers in the UK.

-We're here to seize goods.

-Oh.

And this morning, two of those officers, Mark Newton and Kev McNally,

are hoping to get plumber Ray Millet the money he's owed.

6:20am, and we are looking for £11,100 on this today.

High Court writs are not something to be executed on an empty stomach,

so Mark and Kev fuel up before starting their search for the company's registered office,

which also happens to be the home of boss Richard Hicks.

There's no street number, just a house name.

Only problem we have out this way is, obviously, we're on a really dark country lane

and we're trying to find a house name, which is always interesting.

It's quite a busy road as well.

-We've got a house, there.

-Can't see anything.

This is where the sat-nav's taking us.

There's a big house sign there.

Hi, there. Wonder if you can help us?

They looked like, "Nope, definitely never heard of that."

-Homestead.

-Homestead?

-Yeah.

-It's not that, is it?

-It's not that.

We'll go up the road a little bit more.

It's not down that one, anyway.

-This is called Lakeside.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

What do we do? We'll have to ring this, won't we?

The sheriffs think they've found it,

but with no name on the gate and no-one answering the buzzer...

I don't think it's working.

..there's one way to make sure.

Shall I just go over? Ring his doorbell?

Yeah, go on. You can go.

I ain't going over there, I'll break the gate!

High Court enforcement officers cannot force entry

to residential premises as they can commercial properties,

but they can legally climb a perimeter wall or fence to gain entry.

Unfortunately for Kev, this premises is not the house they're looking for.

Going to come back over, Kev?

-Not even sure this is the house!

-No.

There's the night porter.

Hello, mate. I'm after the house.

-It's over the road.

-Is it?

-Yeah.

Cheers, mate. Thanks very much, thank you.

Just got into this yard which has just opened,

and they've told us that it's the house over the road without the name,

so our sat-nav was slightly out.

The sheriffs have finally found the address on Ray's writ,

but that's not the end of their problems.

They're going to have a dog.

And if you're over there and the dog comes out, that's a long run!

Yeah.

Dog or no dog, is company boss Richard Hicks at home?

We've got to make sure he can't get out.

He's got room to get out behind us at the moment.

No-one's answering the buzzer, so the boys block the drive

to make sure if he is in, he's going nowhere fast.

Somebody has come to the gate.

But is it the man the sheriffs are after?

-Hi, there.

-Hiya.

-Can I help you?

-Yeah, I'm after Richard, of RH Developments.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. We're from High Court enforcement.

-Yeah, for what?

It's about an outstanding writ that's been issued against you.

-Ray Millett is the claimant.

-Oh, right, yeah.

-Yeah.

We're here to collect the payment or seize goods.

Right. That's something that we're arguing about with Ray Millett.

Yeah.

Unsurprisingly, he's none too happy about having to pay up.

Obviously, it's something I want to sort out with him.

If you can give us a day, I'll get hold of him.

Well, it needs to be dealt with with us now, because it's gone to the High Court.

OK, erm... Well, what can I do with you about it?

Well, we're here to collect the payment, which is £11,100 now.

OK, erm...

-I can't do it right at this second, obviously.

-No.

-Can I have time to do it?

-Well, we'll wait while you sort it out.

-No, I mean time as in a week or so?

-No, no, it needs to be done.

You need to do it today, while we're here.

-OK, erm, can I pay you by cheque?

-No.

We will need to leave here with something today.

We're going to have to start seizing goods, then.

If the defendant can't pay, the sheriffs will seize any company assets

up to the value they're after.

But according to Richard Hicks, there's little for them to seize.

There's nothing here that's anything to do with the company or anything.

I mean, all we have is a small office here, that's it.

You said you've got an office here.

I mean, we've only got your word to go on that there's nothing in there, haven't we?

Well, there's a computer in there, and that's it.

Yeah, so there's assets there, and we're sent here to seize them.

-What, from my house?

-Any company assets.

No, they're not company assets. It's a tiny little office, you know.

Do you want to show us that, or not?

-Yeah, of course I will.

-Yeah? Well, come on, we'll go.

Look, I'll take you in, I'll show you the office,

but you'll see there's only the office.

What are you going to do, then?

Well, if we do that, rather than shouting across the gate at the moment,

and we'll go from there.

-Give me two minutes, I'll come and get a key to open the gate.

-Yeah, no problem.

I just want him to pay. He's saying he's disputing it.

He had the opportunity to do that at court and he didn't take that up, so...

A High Court writ costs £60.

If the sheriffs are successful, there's nothing more for their client to pay.

And if they're not, there's only an admin fee, also of £60.

There's someone here now.

-You're not touching anything in the house?

-No, no.

The argument won, Richard Hicks agrees to let Mark and Kev see his tiny little office,

which lies down his very big drive.

Half an hour later, the sheriffs are back.

We went to his office, which is just a small little room upstairs.

There's a computer, a printer and a shredder, basically,

and two desks and a couple of leather chairs.

He's saying he's got no money.

He's signed the walk-in possession, we've given him the opportunity to pay,

told him to get in touch with us in the next seven days, but he needs to start paying this.

He's disputing the amount, saying he doesn't owe the guy what he is saying he owes him.

Not really my problem, to be honest. I'm not really interested in that.

We're there chasing the amount that we were after on our paperwork,

so we're just going to have to hang on and see whether he gets in touch with us now,

or whether he decides to just ignore it.

It's been a long morning's work for the sheriffs, but at least they've made progress.

They've found the right address, the right person,

and carried out a paper seizure of his company's assets.

It's the first step in the process of getting Ray Millett the money he's owed.

And one thing's for certain -

if Richard Hicks doesn't start paying soon, the sheriffs will be back.

High Court enforcement officer Pete Spencer is in Manchester,

on the trail of over £8,000 owed to a woman unfairly dismissed by a local company.

Southern UK Road Services dismissed Lesley Stonier

after she was signed off sick,

having found her workload unmanageable.

She took the company to an employment tribunal,

claiming unfair dismissal.

Southern UK Road Services agreed to settle out of court,

but the company still didn't pay her,

so Lesley turned to the sheriffs.

Pete visited them before. They were tricky to find,

but, eventually, he managed to track down the company director,

who wasn't keen on paying up.

-£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.

-OK. What time will he be in, do you know?

After some negotiation, the director agreed to sign

a walk-in possession, in which vehicles were seized on paper,

with a view to removing and selling them at a later date

if no payment is forthcoming.

But since then, Lesley's still not received a penny.

So Pete's back in the van and on his way to Southern UK Road Services.

We're re-attending today, with a view to remove the vehicles

that we've levied previously, and also any other vehicles

that might be at the premises or any office furniture, computers, etc,

anything of any value to cover the outstanding debt.

Pete arrives at the yard.

Like all High Court enforcement officers,

he can force entry to commercial premises if he needs to.

But today, there's no need. The gates are wide open.

Excellent. I've managed to just walk straight through the opening gates.

The guy's not obviously shut it behind him like last time.

We'll just start levying some of the vehicles that weren't here before.

Once inside, Pete wastes no time eyeing up the vehicles

he plans to remove if Southern UK Road Services won't pay up.

A few minutes with his clipboard and Pete's attracting attention.

An employee tells him the director's not on site.

But moments later, Pete spots a familiar face.

Hiya.

Go out of the gates, then we'll talk.

I'm sorry, I'm on the premises, so we'll speak here.

It's the company director.

-How did you get on the premises?

-Just walked in. The gate was open.

Well, what have you seized? Because these do not belong to the company.

That's fine. What we need to do is,

because you've not come back to us after our last visit...

Well, I believe that one of my colleagues is dealing, trying to do a deal...

-Right, OK.

-..even as we speak, and I don't know whether he's been dealing with you.

He's not been dealing with me. At the moment, we're looking at seizing these items.

I've seized them anyway, and we're looking to remove them today...

-OK.

-..unless we get a full payment...

-Right.

-..which is £8,537.48.

Right, OK.

I need to go back and find out where this negotiation is,

because as far as I was concerned, it was being sorted.

That won't stop our enforcement today,

so we either need a full payment or we are looking to remove goods.

Well, we'll have to find out, I'll have to find the paperwork for you,

-but you certainly can't seize other people's goods.

-No, no.

We can, and what we'll do is we'll seize them, remove them,

put them in storage for five days, and then you... You had the chance last time.

-If these goods...

-Well, as I say...

-Do you remember last time, you signed the agreement?

-Yeah.

The walk-in possession agreement?

That gave you, then, the opportunity to prove that those vehicles weren't owned by yourself.

-As I said, somebody was supposed to be dealing with this.

-Right.

They obviously haven't done, then.

-Right, OK, well, I'll need to look into that.

-Right.

The position is, we probably won't be able to pay you until this time next week,

then we will be in a position to make a payment.

-Right.

-OK.

-I'll just carry on what I'm doing, then I'll come in and see you.

-Yeah, OK.

-OK.

While the director goes off to sort out his next move,

Pete carries on deciding which of the company's assets he'll give the green light to seize.

He'll stop at nothing to make sure Lesley will get what she's owed.

Pete's just tucking into his third van when the director's back,

and this time, he wants Pete gone.

Well, listen, I'm a director of the company,

I'm now asking you to leave the premises.

-Phone the police.

-I will do.

-OK.

-OK.

-That's fine.

If you want to explain to them when you do phone them that we've seized goods, OK,

and I've got a writ to attend here, and that's why I'm on the premises, OK?

Lucky for Pete, the law's very much on his side.

The High Court writ means he's allowed on site and the police can't remove him.

-You won't give me 24 hours to sort this out?

-I can't do that, no.

You've had plenty of time since our last visit.

-We don't have the money right here, right now.

-Card?

Bank transfer?

No. We can probably do something by...

We can probably pay something tomorrow and we can probably...

It's going to have to be today, or else we will be removing goods,

and then you'll have extra charges on top for removal.

-These goods...

-You've been given the opportunity to prove that.

-These goods don't belong to us. I'll go and take legal advice.

-Right, OK.

Before Pete can progress his list, the director returns.

He insists he can't pay the amount Pete's after,

but nor does he want his vehicles removed. Luckily, there's a third way.

From my point of view, what I'm trying to do is get a solution.

-Yeah.

-OK?

A solution would be, potentially, a part-payment today,

and then go into the monthly offer,

but that would have to go through the office, obviously, and the claimant, if they'd accept that.

What part-payment?

That's up to you to tell me.

A part-payment of £2,000?

If that's what you're saying,

I'll have to run that by the office and see what they say.

-Can you try that, please?

-OK.

And when would you be looking to do that?

As soon as you said that would be acceptable.

I'll make the call.

At last, there's some sign of movement,

but the amount offered is still a long way short of the £8,500 owing.

Pete checks back in with the office.

Will £2,000 be enough for the director to get Pete off his back?

Hi, Lawrence. I'm just at the Southern UK Road Services at Manchester...

Yeah...

Yeah, no problem. OK, speak to you soon. Thanks, bye.

Yeah. All right, Cheers, bye.

Erm, no, they want to remove.

All right.

That's not to say you can't up the offer and I can put a larger offer into him,

but he's looking at half the amount, minimum, today, or we're removing.

I certainly can't go to 4,000. Certainly can't go to 4,000.

-I mean, it's...

-Let me come back to you.

-Yep, no problem, thanks.

The director heads back inside to reconsider his offer.

We need some sort of payment today, and whether or not it's a substantial payment

and then going to a monthly payment, or we are looking to remove goods.

Having made more calls, the director's back with an improved offer.

The totaliser now stands at £3,000.

-Can you just try 3K? I mean, it's really squeezing it.

-Right.

I can try, but I have phoned him in-between you going in there

and coming out, just to get some further checks on the operating

licences of the end vehicles up there, that's all.

I just said...

-I am trying my best here.

-Yeah, fine.

Pete accepts the director is being reasonable

and trying to find a solution, but is his best offer good enough?

Pete gets back to the office to find out.

And he is trying, he's actually trying to try and sort it out.

But the office is digging its heels in. 3K won't wash.

He says we're not here to discuss it, we're here to basically remove items today,

because you got the opportunity last time to prove,

so we're not here, really, to enter a discussion about how much.

-It's full payment or remove.

-I thought you said 50% earlier.

I've said I can negotiate, but the least it will take is 50% of the outstanding value.

Once again, it's the long walk back to the office for the director.

Shortly after, the director returns with news from his legal team.

I've spoken very briefly, because the guy I need to speak to is in hospital at the moment,

but he says he applied for a suspension of the warrant on Monday.

Right. That wouldn't stop our enforcement today.

-I'm just saying what he said.

-Yeah.

So, I believe he hasn't got that piece of paper in his hand yet,

so until he's got that piece of paper,

I guess that's not going to do anything.

No. And that takes time as well.

I mean, the best way would be... I've just spoken to our office again,

quite happily take the 50% today, and then give you the opportunity to sort the offer out

-to pay the rest off.

-Right.

Well, what I'll do is, because I've got to shoot off soon,

I will squeeze 4,2 out.

Right, OK. It's 4,2-something, isn't it? Is that on card?

-It'll be a bank transfer.

-Bank transfer, OK, yeah.

And it'll have to get authorised by somebody else, our accountant.

Do you want me to come in and sort it out with you?

I've got all the bank details where you need to pay it to.

The director goes off to squeeze his £4,200 out.

I'd rather that there was no filming inside.

Right, that's fine. They don't want you to film inside.

It's gone well for Pete.

His tough negotiating has got Lesley Stonier the 50% minimum payment

she and the office were after, with a payment plan to come for the rest.

Yeah, that's a good result today.

I don't think he could have come up with the full amount, from what he was telling me.

Whether that's true or not, we don't know, but we have got 50% payment on that,

and he has only got five days now to sort out the rest.

Job done. Leslie Stonier can expect a hefty cheque in the post.

Southern UK Road Services settled out of court,

and say they are a caring and nurturing business.

Another person who's had to turn to the sheriffs for help is Jan Smith.

She's run into problems with a local auction house,

having inherited a number of valuable antiques from her family.

My parents have died, and my brother died about five years ago,

so we had a lot of inherited pieces from them.

There was a lot of jewellery which belonged to my mother

and some watches and a box set of silver coins.

We thought probably, if we could get a reasonable amount of money,

then maybe we might buy something with the proceeds,

as a memento of parents and my brother.

But to raise the money, she needed to sell the valuables.

Luckily, she'd come across a local auction house,

Cameo Fine Art Auctioneers, which seemed to fit the bill.

I'd driven past it a number of times,

and it always had advertising... sales, forthcoming sales, etc,

and also, of course, I had seen them on the television,

the very auction site, so I thought, well, surely they would be reputable.

Jan took along the jewellery, some pottery left to her by her mother,

and her brother's valuable collection of Chelsea Football Club memorabilia.

Over the next few weeks, many of the items went up for sale,

much of it was sold, and Jan was able to watch it all online.

I think the jewellery itself went for just under £2,000,

and then, obviously, we had the family round here

and we were all getting very excited about this.

The sale netted Jan just under £3,000 in total,

although the pottery and the football memorabilia weren't sold.

Jan waited patiently for her money, but nothing came.

Despite regular calls and e-mails over several months,

Cameo wouldn't send Jan her money or her remaining unsold items.

I was getting very frustrated and very angry about their lack of communication

and the fact that they had my money,

but equally, they had my goods, my inherited goods.

These belonged to my relatives, who'd died,

and I was really very sad that somebody was just hanging onto them,

or doing whatever with them. Who knows? So I then said,

"Unless I hear from you and you start responding to my e-mails,

"I will have to take this further and put it in the hands of a solicitor."

But the threat of legal action had little effect.

Jan was left with no choice but to take the auction house to the County Court.

Cameo didn't attend, and the court awarded in Jan's favour.

But despite further solicitor's letters,

there's been no payment from Cameo or the return of Jan's unsold items.

I haven't had any money whatsoever. It's just outrageous.

It is outrageous that people can proceed like this

and just take people for a ride, and that's what it is.

I really want to see these people brought to some sort of justice, really.

With no-one else to help her, Jan's had to turn to the sheriffs.

If I get a call from the enforcement officers, once they've been down to Cameo,

that they've paid in full, I will be absolutely delighted.

If not, I will push to the end to see what further we need to do,

because it wouldn't be the end of the story.

Midday on the M4 westbound,

and Sheriffs Lawrence and Mark are heading to Reading on Jan's behalf.

They're going to see Cameo Fine Art Auctioneers.

What we've got is a writ of delivery with a money order attached,

which means we're there to actually remove specific goods

which belong to our client, and to collect money on their behalf.

High Court enforcement officers are no strangers to the world of auctioneers

and the issues involved in seizures at their premises.

The problem when you go to any auction house

is the majority of the goods that are there aren't actually theirs.

They've been put there to be sold on behalf of their clients.

At this stage, we don't know what we're going to find.

The specific items we're looking for should be there,

because they were left with the auction house.

It's not long before Mark spots the premises they're looking for.

Cameo.

They park up and head in.

First, they need to find whoever's in charge.

Hello, there. We're enforcement officers.

We're here to execute a High Court writ. We've got a writ of delivery.

Excuse me. What for? What for? I don't even know what this is about.

-Right. We've got a writ of delivery on behalf of a Janet Smith...

-Right.

..for various items.

With a High Court writ presented to him, the manager agrees to hear Lawrence out.

But he asks our camera operator to leave.

The negotiations will take place behind closed doors.

An hour later, and the manager suddenly emerges.

He heads off in his car, leaving the sheriffs inside the office.

Before long, he returns. But what's he been doing?

Lawrence comes downstairs to fill us in.

The guy, he's gone and got £1,000 out of his own money,

but I don't like walking away without full payment.

Lawrence re-enters the fray.

£1,000 is well short of the £4,260 that Jan Smith is owed.

Sometime later, the sheriffs re-emerge.

But did they get Jan her money?

We met the gentleman in charge. He wasn't aware of any of this.

He's not actually the owner. He later told us that the owner was aware of it,

but obviously wasn't aware that we were going to be visiting him quite as quickly as we did.

He agreed to pay us the full balance, although he couldn't do so today.

He had to take £1,000 out of his own bank account

and he's promised to pay the rest of the balance tomorrow.

We've got a signed walk-in possession,

we've got a right to force entry to commercial premises anyway.

The sheriffs weren't able to find the auction items that Jan Smith wanted back,

but it looks like they have been successful in getting her cash.

We've left him in no doubt that we will be back if full payment

isn't received into the account tomorrow, so it's watch this space.

Half of me thinks he'll definitely do it, but you can never tell.

You can never tell, so we'll just have to wait for payment to hit the account tomorrow,

and if it doesn't, we'll be back.

The sheriffs never close a case before payment is signed, sealed and delivered.

They return to base to await developments.

Former music teacher Martin Battersby has had to turn to the sheriffs

after his dream of owning a children's nursery turned sour.

His problems started after he decided he wanted to give up teaching and go into business.

Wife Emma suggested they jointly buy and run a nursery.

Found one that we thought we'd like,

and I rang the estate agents the next day to say,

"Could you put me on to a broker,

"so I can see if I can actually raise the money to do this?"

And they instantly passed me on to Chris Bull.

Chris Bull ran Clear Business Mortgages.

He read Martin and Emma's business plan and he agreed to try and find them a lender.

There was a £750 fee, but they'd get £700 of it back if he couldn't raise them the money.

So I paid the fee, we sorted the paperwork out, it was all gung ho,

and then Chris rang me at the beginning of February to say,

"I've run it past the bank, and they've said yes."

Excellent!

He said, "We've got it all sorted out, we should be able to do it."

Delighted at the good news, Martin and Emma put in an offer for the dream nursery they'd seen online.

It was a busy time for them, getting ready for their new business venture.

-We'd got the date set, everything was in place.

-Yeah.

On top of that, solicitors had been involved,

-so there was a good few thousand pounds' bill in solicitor's fees.

-Yeah.

The really silly part about it is I'd taken redundancy from work,

thinking that we'd got this going, and I thought, "This is going to be excellent."

Martin and Emma hurriedly spent Martin's redundancy money

on essentials for their new nursery, like stationery and toys,

all based on the mortgage Chris Bull had set up for them.

I suppose we trusted him, at the end of the day.

It was our first time buying a nursery, so we thought,

"Well, he's the expert, he knows."

But just when they needed to finalise the mortgage, there was bad news.

Chris Bull said there was a delay.

Then he went silent on them altogether.

I'm ringing him, pestering him and texting him to say, "What's happening? What's happening?"

Not getting any answers.

I'd already set up a bank account

with the bank I thought was loaning me the money.

I dealt with the local business manager,

and she turned round to me and said, "I've gone through this file. There's no money.

"Yes, there's a file being raised, but there's been no monies agreed."

And I'm, like, horrified. What's going on here?

There was no mortgage.

The money Chris Bull said the bank had agreed to hadn't been agreed at all.

And no mortgage meant Martin and Emma had no choice but to pull out of the nursery sale.

I really felt almost abandoned. I thought, "Well, what are we going to do here?"

No job, money going out, money running out...

and I've got nothing to do, I've got no future to go with

and no business to have at the end of it.

We felt silly and embarrassed by the fact that we'd been led along the garden path all of this time,

and still nothing at the end of it. I felt angry with it as well,

because I felt stupid that I'd allowed it to finish up like this,

because we'd believed what he was saying.

Chris Bull wouldn't even give them back the £700 fee he'd promised them was refundable.

Desperate to recoup some of the money they'd spent on putting the nursery sale together,

they took him to the County Court.

Mr Bull didn't attend, and the court found in the Battersbys' favour.

But Mr Bull still hasn't paid up.

With nowhere left to turn, they've had to call on the sheriffs.

I want my money back. End of.

If, at any point, he could have actually said,

"Look, I haven't got this bank stuff in place,

"the finances aren't in place, we need to halt this until such time as we have..."

-That would have done.

-Yeah. I'd have been happy with that.

OK, it wouldn't have been ideal, but I'd have been happy with it.

He never even went down that route.

He just strung us along, the whole way along.

"Yeah, it's going to happen, it's going to happen."

We've got nothing to lose now, in that sense.

We're just trying to fight back and see what money we can get back from Chris.

The Battersbys are owed over £5,000, and to get it back, they've come to Sheriff Pete,

who feels some sympathy for what they must have gone through.

The guy got told it was all OK, gave up his job, etc...

to be left with nothing, basically.

I think it's going to be his private address we're going to this morning. It is in his private name.

Hopefully, he'll be in.

If Mr Bull can't find the money,

Pete's intending to seize any vehicles he might own.

Obviously, if there is some vehicles there, we'll do some DVLA checks.

If they come back as positive, we'll then HPI them to see if they're finance-free,

with a view to removing them if he doesn't pay.

Seizing people's cars isn't something the sheriffs undertake lightly.

It's going to cause a big disruption to somebody to lose their vehicle, obviously,

so it's a last resort to remove a vehicle,

and it's obviously our last resort if we do have to remove it,

and then it obviously goes to auction to be sold to recover the outstanding debt.

Pete's nearly reached Chris Bull's address.

The Battersbys, meanwhile, wait patiently at home for the result.

On arrival, Pete spots a potential seizure target, and it's German-made.

We've got a BMW in the driveway, by the look of it, if it's the correct house.

That's the one. Private registration number as well on the car,

so just make a quick note of the registration number.

They've got the TV on, so somebody's at home.

Time to head in and see whether Mr Bull's prepared to give the Battersbys

the money they're legally due.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Hiya... OK, no problem. Mr Bull, is it?

Enforcement officer, enforcing a High Court writ,

regarding a Mr Battersby.

Yeah? Are we OK? Yeah? Cheers, thank you.

We're not invited in.

Will Pete get the Battersbys their money?

40 minutes later, Pete re-emerges.

Thanks. Cheers.

We've collected £2,500 today of the outstanding amount, which was, I think, 5,2.

The most he could transfer today and get hold of was two and a half.

We've levied items in the property to protect the outstanding debt,

and that'll stay there until the full payment's been made,

so he's going to now look into a monthly offer.

It will be £150 per month, that's what he said to me at the moment.

He's going to have a look at his finances later on,

when his partner returns, and maybe increase that offer.

It's a good end to the day for Pete.

Half the money the Battersbys are owed and more promised as part of a payment plan.

And if that money isn't forthcoming, Pete will be back.

We asked Mr Bull to comment.

He told us that before the High Court writ was issued,

he did attempt to make an offer to the Battersbys,

but he claims that his offer was not received by them.

A month after the sheriffs visited Cameo Fine Art Auctioneers,

Jan Smith's received her money back in full,

but she's still not got back the unsold pottery

and football memorabilia she left with Cameo as well.

I'm delighted, absolutely delighted that we have got the money back

from the sale and the costs.

However, the other goods, where are they?

We don't know, and that is very, very frustrating.

Following Sheriff Pete Spencer's visit to Chris Bull,

Martin and Emma Battersby soon received their first payment, with more promised.

It's a great step forward. We've got something back.

Hopefully, we'll get all of it back.

It's now one month since the sheriffs paid Richard Hicks

of RH Developments Cotswolds Ltd a visit on behalf of plumber Ray Millett.

The good news for Ray is that since then, the company has agreed

to a payment plan of £1,000 a month for the money he's owed.

It is the best result we could have got. It was the right thing to do.

The system is there for these situations, and people should use it.

Next time...

..it's the most important day of your life, but what do you do

when your wedding photographer turns wedding bells into wedding hell?

We can't get those memories. He just won't be able to video that again.

The sheriffs invite him to speak now or for ever hold his peace.

All right, we're in. Thank you very much.

We're now going to do a diligent search of the property,

because we've gained peaceful entry.

Cleaner Michael Martin won an employment tribunal after being unfairly dismissed

but still hasn't been given any of the money he was awarded.

I was getting no closer, Christmas was coming,

I had to cancel Christmas from the kids.

When it comes to getting his money, can the sheriffs clean up?

If we don't seize goods here today, we're in contempt of court.

With her husband away fighting in Afghanistan,

Louise Oakley-Green had to find and buy a new family car on her own,

but she was sold a faulty Ford, and the company she bought it from wouldn't refund her.

It has been one of the most stressful periods in my entire life.

This experience I would not wish on my worst enemy.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd