Episode 1 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the Sheriffs.

-Let's introduce ourselves.

We're enforcement officers. We're here to execute a High Court writ.

They're the men whose job it is to get you your money back.

It's an arrestable offence to stop me doing my job.

If you've been ripped off and don't know where turn...

I'm not waiting any more.

I'm ordered to seize goods to clear this debt,

which would mean clearing this place out.

If you've been to court but still not been paid what you're owed.

Why don't you tell me who you are?

This is an absolute crock. You need to pay this.

The High Court Enforcement Officers are charged by law

to recover what a court says is rightfully yours.

I've seized your car, sir.

-Let us through the door, or we'll go through the window.

-Whoa.

-It's time to call the Sheriffs.

-I've collected £42,000.

Coming up...

Farmer Brian Nutter got fleeced after shearing 3,000 sheep.

It's just a poor do when I go and shear a sheep for a man

that I know and won't pay me.

Sheriff Pete pays the debtor a visit.

Will they pull the wool over his eyes?

Unless he's sold them already there's 3,000 sheep that we'll seize.

Lawrence and Kev pay a visit to aeroplane giant Airbus

to get money back for a man whose factory job ruined his hearing.

We're here today to seize goods to the value of £42,000.

Can they convince the £26bn company this is a debt that needs paying?

And Marc and Tony take on a Luton car yard.

If it's nothing to do with you, why don't you just tell me who you are?

On a rainy morning in West Yorkshire, Sheriffs Pete Spencer

and Dave Crabtree are heading deep into farming country

looking to get another member of the public back money

that's rightfully theirs.

Right, first job is Todmorden.

Believe it's a farm that we're going to,

so hopefully today there'll be some farming equipment.

The man they're on their way to help is Lancashire farmer Brian Nutter.

Like most farmers these days, he's having to work harder and harder

for smaller and smaller returns.

So, when a neighbouring farmer reneges on a contract to pay,

leaving him thousands of pounds out of pocket

and relying on the Sheriffs for help, it's a serious matter.

We have to pay our bills,

y'know, we can't get away with not paying our bills,

so why should he get away with not paying his bills?

For over 20 years,

Brian Nutter's life has been all about sheep.

Everybody says sheep are stupid.

They're very clever, are sheep.

His passion for these woolly beasts

has seen him develop into one of the fastest shearers in the North West.

I was 16 when I sheared my first sheep.

Shearing, it's all where your feet go.

They say, shearing 300 sheep a day is equivalent to running a marathon.

Brian's steady hand and years of experience

meant sheep owners flocked to engage his services.

As his shearing business grew,

it took him to farms across the country.

But Brian's fortunes took a turn for the worse

when a local farmer named Andrew Barker came to him

with an especially tough assignment.

I've known him for a couple of years,

but he asked me to shear his sheep.

It was just short of three thousand,

we sheared for him in total. A very big job.

The scale of the job meant Brian needed help

and he took on two extra shearers to share the work.

He struck a deal with Mr Barker at the going rate

of £1 per sheep.

After five exhausting days

providing much needed trims to each of the farmer's 2,968 sheep,

Brian was looking forward to a well-earned pay-day.

But with the huge crop of wool safely in the bag,

despite numerous promises from the farmer

this much-needed payment never arrived.

You trust people, but it's just a poor ado

when I go and shear a sheep for a man that I know

and won't pay me.

He's no loyalty to the people that work for him.

He owes me £3,000 and I've paid my shearers nearly £2,000,

of that money for the work that they did for me.

I'm nearly £5,000 out of pocket

He's made money out of me going shearing the sheep

because he can sell his wool.

So, yeah, you do get angry.

Having been forced to pay his shearers out of his own savings,

Brian was determined not to let Mr Barker fleece him.

After two years without payment

he decided the only way to get his money was to sue the errant farmer.

When the case went to court,

the farmer admitted liability and was ordered to repay the money.

But despite this ruling,

Brian found Mr Barker still wasn't ready to pay up what he owed.

It took him three months before I got the first cheques,

and then I only got them because I went for them.

I said to him, "If these cheques are going to bounce, let me know,

"and I won't put them in the bank." He told me that they would clear.

And as I said, the first two cheques bounced,

and the third one cleared, but he told me not to put that one in,

so, I mean I've been right with him, all along,

but he hasn't been right with me.

With Barker breaking his promise to the court

and having no other way of enforcing the agreement to pay,

Brian's last hope of seeing his money now rests with the Sheriffs.

And Brian has a suggestion for how they could clear the debt.

It's a solution harking back to the Saxon days of the Sheriffs,

when seizing livestock was an everyday occurrence.

It wouldn't really take a lot of sheep...

... maybe 70 or 80 sheep would pay the debt at a realistic valuation.

It's now down to Sheriffs, Pete and Dave,

to give this country yarn its final twist.

And when it comes to potentially seizing livestock,

Pete's not one to be sheepish.

Unless he's sold them already, there's 3,000 sheep that we'll see.

And we'll send Dave to round 'em up.

Potentially they've got a value and they're owned by the debtor,

so we can seize and remove to sell to cover the outstanding debt.

Before they can do anything however, they've got to find the farm.

Could be anywhere, couldn't it?

Just ask her, ask her.

Andrew Barker, Midgeldon farm.

It could be anywhere along here.

Just over t'hill.

And just over the hill they find Midgeldon Farm.

They're on site for only a few moments before debtor Andrew Barker

makes an appearance.

I've got a live High Court writ.

That's the reason for our attendance today.

-In the connection with a Mr Brian Nutter.

-Oh, right.

-Did he do some sheep shearing for you or something?

-Oh, yeah.

-OK.

There's £4,038.74 outstanding

-which is the reason for our visit and we've come to collect it.

-Right.

-Right.

-How would you like to pay?

Cash, credit card, debit card?

Right OK, so cash or bank transfer are the two options then for you.

At this point, our cameraman is asked to leave the farm.

Pete wants to know more about the dispute

and makes some discreet inquiries.

So, what did he do, shear 3,000 sheep for you or something?

Did you not pay him then?

But Mr Barker's more worried about finding the money.

He asks Pete for an extra day to pay.

I can't. I've got to attend today. It's a live writ to attend today,

which is to collect the total amount or seize goods to the value of.

Obviously we've already got your Land Rover.

Erm, so is this yours, this Toyota?

With the threat of having his vehicles seized hanging over him,

Mr Barker promises to pay in the next five days

and Pete's inclined to believe he will.

If I seize items to protect the outstanding debt, OK,

so it's going to be the property of the court until five days.

So if I give you until Monday to pay it.

As long as we've received that by Monday, we won't be coming back.

The farmer agrees to sign the walking possession agreement

giving the court ownership of his vehicles and livestock

on paper at least.

The seizure will be lifted once he pays up.

Happy with the result, Pete wraps things up.

I'll give you all the information, yeah?

That's all the information there.

Our account details are there

and I'll give you till next Monday to sort that out.

Pete's hopeful the farmer will be good to his word and pay up.

After all, there's plenty of removable assets on his farm,

including vehicles and livestock.

If the money's not forthcoming,

Pete will be straight back to remove them.

He said he doesn't have a credit/debit card which I can believe

so it's going to be cash, he's going to get the cash together,

go into the bank and make the payment.

He seems confident he's going to come up with the full amount,

so hopefully by Monday, we'll see it in our client's holding account.

And, a few days later...

..Brian Nutter got the phone call he's been waiting for

since he first got in contact with the Sheriffs.

Well, it's Dave the Sheriff.

That's all right, is that, it has to happen yet!

Time will tell.

And the good news is, the cheque cleared. Payment in full.

On their way to their latest job are Sheriffs Marc Newton and Tony Smith.

We're just on our way up the M1 now to Luton.

We've got a company called Carland Direct.

The amount outstanding for this writ is £3,239.

Carland Direct are a garage who sold a faulty car

to one of their customers, Maryam Awan.

They fixed the car, but then made her pay for repairs,

so the matter ended up in court.

Carland Direct didn't attend and the court ruled in Maryam's favour.

And now, she wants her money back.

Arriving at Carland Direct's vast Luton forecourt,

Marc and Tony head for the main office.

Can they convince the company they need to pay off this debt?

HE KNOCKS DOOR

-Hello, mate.

-Hello, mate. You all right?

-Yeah, good. You?

We've got a High Court Writ that's been issued.

Who's it for, sorry?

-Carland Direct Ltd.

-Who's it from?

A Maryam Awan.

-Can we talk outside, if you don't mind?

-Yeah, no problem. Yeah.

While the Carland Direct manager has no choice

but to talk to Marc and Tony, we're asked to leave the premises.

The manager says he's just an employee

and therefore can't initiate any payment.

He says the company director, Mr Shahbaz Khan,

is away and not back for a day or so.

But Marc can't wait till tomorrow.

You need to get hold of him, or someone needs to pay this.

The amount outstanding is £3,239.44.

Problem is, if you don't, we're going to start removing.

We have to seize goods today.

The man says he doesn't have the £3,000 needed to pay the debt.

I'm not being funny, but that's not our problem.

-We've got a High Court writ.

-It's a live writ.

Suddenly, the manager changes his story.

Instead of the next day, the boss is apparently arriving

in a couple of hours and it's his job to pick him up from the airport.

But Marc thinks there's something fishy about it all.

I don't know. He says he's...

He says... He's coming back in two or three days,

now he's going to get him in an hour?

But the manager's still sticking to his story.

Marc asks which airport he's collecting Mr Shahbaz Khan from

and he's not entirely sure.

Possibly Stansted or maybe Heathrow...

Surely you must know what airport you're going to?

So he's landing at three o'clock and you haven't left yet?

Now, like, quarter to three?

So, you're not going to get there in an hour and five mins?

The man's inconsistent story is frustrating Marc.

He's been there for an hour and a half

and there's no sign of any payment or a director allowed to make one.

Tony decides to step things up.

He's had an hour. We ain't waiting all day.

-I'll start clamping that one and that one.

-All right.

Just clamp it, clamp it. I'm not interested, clamp it.

-How are you getting on?

-I'm (BLEEP) dirty.

Just throw it round the bottom.

-I want to do it properly.

-Just throw it round the bottom.

The manager isn't happy about seeing one of the cars being clamped,

particularly as his own Porsche is sat on the forecourt.

We're not taking it, we're just cleaning it.

-I'm not waiting anymore.

-We've given you an hour.

Come on. We've been here waiting for an hour.

Although the man says he's just an employee,

Marc thinks he's more senior than he lets on,

and well capable of initiating payment.

Who are you then? Who are you? Who are you?

-What's your name?

-You're the guy who works here who drives the Porsche?

So, you must get paid good wages, mustn't you, for a car salesman?

-Don't treat me like an idiot.

-You must have a few quid if you're driving that.

With the clamps now out,

the manager's worried enough about his Porsche to drive off in it,

while Marc and Tony are busy with the BMW.

Is he on his way to Heathrow?

Wherever he's headed, Marc decides to open up a second front.

He leaves Tony on the forecourt, while he heads off in his van

to the company director's home address

to see if there's anybody there that could pay the debt.

We've got an address for the director,

which is just round the corner so as he's gone off,

I thought what we might do is pop round to the house round the corner.

We're not getting anywhere and I think he thinks we're just going to leave. So...

He's going to be in for a bit of a shock, because we don't.

Wow, what a surprise(!)

Rather than being on its way to Heathrow,

the manager's Porsche is outside the director's house.

Is the manager inside?

Marc gives the house a knock, but whoever's there,

they don't want to talk to him.

Still getting nowhere near any payment,

Marc rings Tony to tell him to start the procedure

-to tow the clamped cars.

-Give Lawrence a ring

and start organising tow trucks for this cos the Porsche is parked outside the house

and he's not opening the door. He's just mucking us about, really.

Marc thinks the manager's inside the house.

But in fact, he's just round the corner in another car.

And not in a good mood.

HORN BLARES

I'm trying to get hold of the director.

If you don't mind, stop filming me. I don't consent to you filming me.

Please explain to me why you are here?

-If you clamp a vehicle that's worth 15 grand.

-Yeah.

-That's 3 grand.

-I'm trying to get hold of the person,

-but it's nothing to do with you?

-Why are you here?

Because I'm getting lied to constantly.

No, you're not. Number's there on the board.

The vehicle you clamp, what's the next step?

We're going to remove it.

I'm not going to wait, I told you that, I'm not going to wait.

Marc wants to know why, if the manager is just an employee,

he's so worked up about his attempts to get hold of Shahbaz Khan.

If it's nothing to do with you,

it's a bit weird how the car that you drive

turns up outside the director's home address but it's nothing to do with you!

Why don't you just tell me who you are?

You've got something to hide if you won't tell me who you are.

You could refer to me as Mr Ahmed if you want.

That's no problem. That's my surname, Mr Ahmed.

OK, so call me Mr Ahmed. Mr Ahmed.

If you don't mind pointing that away.

Why don't we get out of the road because we could get run over.

-If you give me some time...

-We've given you time!

-I know, but...

-You've had an hour and a half...

-I know, but...

-...and done nothing.

Our director is not in the UK.

We're trying to locate him and bring him to you...

Well, you told me earlier he's coming in on a flight at 3pm.

-That's correct.

-It's now 25 past three

and he's coming in on a flight that's over an hour away from here.

You're going to get him, so he'll not be here, while you're talking to me.

I'll phone someone else to pick him up, OK?

-So, please, bear with us.

-I'm going to back the car yard,

-because we're getting nowhere here.

-Please bear with us.

-We are trying to help you.

-OK. Thank you very much.

Marc heads back to Carland Direct's forecourt.

He still doesn't know where the company director is,

or where any money's coming from.

If he doesn't get something soon,

he'll reluctantly have to tow away the cars.

Don't want to remove goods, y'know.

Everyone ends up with more to do and basically at the end of it,

it's the same result apart from the defendant, it's cost them more money.

It's a message that Tony, meanwhile, has been trying to get across

to others at Carland Direct.

He's warned them if they don't pay up,

they'll get hit by additional towing and Sheriff fees.

So I said, all in all, your bill could go up £1,500.

Then he got straight on the phone to him and he's coming back.

Soon after, another Carland Direct employee, Daniel, emerges.

He may not be the company director, but he does agree to pay, in full.

It's got to be the full amount. Not a penny less, not a penny more.

Finally, victory for the Sheriffs.

Marc and Tony's assertive tactics

and refusal to get brow-beaten have come up trumps.

Carland Direct arrange for the money to get transferred in full.

They're also keen to put their side of the story.

We buy and sell cars. Probably about over 100 a month.

So one or two, we are going to have a few issues.

Carland Direct, if we do have any issues, we do deal with them.

Happy days, all done.

If anybody wants to buy any cars, come down to Carland Direct.

We're more than happy to...

Although at times frustrating,

Marc's got what he wanted from the job,

a payment in full.

In total was about 2.5 hours on that job.

Total collected was £3,239

of which they paid just over £1,000 in cash and the rest on a debit card.

It's another score for the Sheriffs

and, more importantly, means Maryam Awan

getting back the money a court of law says is rightfully hers.

Marc and Tony work for this High Court enforcement company

in South London.

They enforce over 1,000 High Court writs every month

and recover over £24m of money rightfully owed to their clients.

-Hiya.

-Good morning, sir. My name's Mr Grix, I'm an enforcement officer.

These days a High Court writ costs £60.

If the Sheriffs are successful,

there's nothing more for the client to pay.

We're looking for full payment or removal today.

If they're unsuccessful, the only cost is a £60 admin fee.

So, that's the payment in full.

Sir, we cannot leave until that money hits our bank account.

For every pound the Sheriffs are asked to enforce

on average, they collect 93p,

but despite their high ratio of success,

life isn't always easy for them.

Today, Sheriffs Marc and Tony are on the road again,

this time on their way to meet one of their trickiest ever adversaries.

We're off to Chingford in East London...

looking for a company called the QC Laboratory Ltd.

The amount we're looking for in this is £11,673.

QC Laboratory made employee Teresa Kelly redundant

after she'd worked for them for 23 years.

An employment tribunal ruled she was sacked without proper procedure

and wasn't paid the redundancy money, wages

or holiday pay she was owed.

So today, it's Marc's job to try and get her that money back.

Down this alleyway, I think, mate.

They arrive and pull up.

They're looking for boss, Andrew Jennings.

After knocking at the office, a man answers

and says he's not the boss, but that he does know him.

-We're after the QC Laboratory?

-Nah, he's left.

-Do you know how long they left?

-They went into liquidation before Xmas.

The man says he runs a different company at the same address.

But Marc wants proof the two are not connected

and asks to see any letters or correspondence

which might prove which company's based at the address.

You haven't got something with that on postal-wise have you?

You're (BLEEP) joking!

-You haven't got a business rates bill?

-No.

Phone bill? Gas bill? Electric bill?

-You don't pay no bills?

-Any sort of bill?

-No.

-This whole building, you're saying to me, pays no bills at all?

-No.

The man might be shy about his post, but suddenly,

he reveals some other crucial facts.

He's Alan Jennings, father of the company owner Andrew Jennings

and the original founder of QC Laboratory Ltd.

He says the company's now being wound up

and it's his job to settle its final debts.

-The company's still...

-We're not trading any more.

You liquidated the company, is that what you're saying?

Mr Jennings goes inside and Marc follows him.

To get his client's money,

he might need to seize any remaining company assets.

As it trades in specialist laboratory equipment,

he's hoping there's plenty of machinery inside.

But to take possession of it,

Marc needs to prove it still belongs to the company named on his writ.

And moments later, bingo!

Marc finds recent letters addressed to QC Laboratory

and other evidence the company is still trading.

Just got a calibration certificate for one of these machines here

which was done six days ago, so for a company that's closing down

or going into liquidation, I don't know why you'd bother

getting your machines calibrated.

-How can this come in on 1 June...

-Dead easy, mate...

-...which is five days ago for a company...

-Dead easy...

-... that liquidated six months ago?

-Yeah.

Because I'm selling up the assets.

OK, but there's still assets belonging to the company.

No, there isn't any assets.

Well, you're going to need to show me proof that none of this belongs.

How can I show you proof?

-Well, if you can't, we're going to be removing it.

-Oh, well, all right, OK.

Yeah? OK, well, I'll start listing this.

The company assets are in line to be removed,

only problem is, the value of the ageing machinery

is unlikely to cover the £12,000 debt

and, with the company being wound up,

Mr Jennings feels he's got little to lose by refusing to pay.

-So do you want to pay?

-I don't want to pay. What is it?

-The outstanding amount.

-What is it?

-£11,673.

-I would not pay a penny.

-We're going to start removing goods then.

-I would not pay a penny. You're not going to pay a penny?

-No.

-Right, OK.

It becomes clear that Mr Jennings has no interest

in settling the debt he owes to his ex-employee.

I would not pay her one penny.

I'll pay her a pound, that's all I think she's worth.

-Well, the position we're in...

-I know the position.

You keep on with... So what you want to do?

-What do you mean?

-There's tools, do you want to take them?

-I can.

Well, if that's what the claimant wants us to do...

Despite his machinery being in jeopardy,

there's only one asset Mr Jennings seems determined to hold on to.

All right. I won't take that.

Unfortunately for us at this stage, the goods in there

are never going to cover this debt

and the machinery by the time we've got that out and taken that away,

we're probably not even going to cover the removal costs.

We're just in a position now where we're trying

to sort of see if he wants to pay something.

Obviously, he's had a big falling-out with the claimant

and doesn't want to pay.

We'll hang on in here for a while,

we'll list all the goods and see where we go from here, really.

-Look, if you can't pay anything today...

-I told you I can...

No, not a pound. Let's be sensible about this.

With little of value on site and Mr Jennings un-cooperative,

it's now down to whether Marc can persuade him

it's in his interests to pay.

We'll see how he gets on later.

It's 8am in Essex.

This morning, Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev

are chasing up a debt from another employment tribunal.

This time, they're on route to an unusual destination -

a swimming pool design centre called Poolman Leisure Group Limited.

They're going there on behalf of a woman

who was dismissed without notice by the company

and not given the redundancy money she was entitled to.

Her case went before an employment tribunal

where it was contested.

The court ruled in her favour and awarded £7,248 in compensation

spread over nine monthly instalments, but this hasn't been paid as agreed

and several thousand pounds remain outstanding.

It's now down to Lawrence and Kev to do what they do best

and get her the money she's owed.

We've found it and we're here. Poolman Swimming Pools, look.

Several of his swimming pools are on display

but there's no sign of the Pool Man.

It seems Lawrence and Kev may be a bit early.

Yeah, we'll sit in the van and wait from them to turn up.

Sort of hide ourselves away, be discreet.

While keeping a low profile, Lawrence's first instinct

is to size up what goods could potentially be seized

to settle the debt.

They appear to have quite a bit here in the way of assets.

I would imagine that trailer's theirs for a start,

that's next to us.

As well as the trailer, seizing the swimming pools themselves

could prove an even stronger bargaining tool.

However, Lawrence has a different plan for his own garden.

-I'd rather have a hot tub.

-Yeah, you would, wouldn't you?

Where you've got built-in seats, bubbles, speakers...

You can sit there and you know, nice hot tub with a drink

and listen to some music.

But for Lawrence and Kev, this is no time for relaxation.

Within five minutes, a woman arrives and starts to open up.

Might as well go in, hadn't we? Yeah.

-Hi there.

-Morning. Poolman Leisure Group Limited?

The lady inside is only an employee.

She tries to get through to the owner

but can only reach his voicemail.

As the waiting game continues,

Kev debates the practicalities of seizing a swimming pool.

They'd have to drain it, obviously,

and then get someone in to dismantle it. We wouldn't know how to do that.

It shouldn't be too difficult.

Unless the owner shows up and pays up,

all this could be leaving with the Sheriffs.

Just in time a man appears.

Is this the elusive Pool Man?

-Hi there.

-Hello there, sir.

I'll just show you some ID.

Mr Grix, the enforcement officer.

We've got a High Court writ against Poolman Leisure Group Ltd.

We're here today to seize goods to the value of £3,834.18.

To prevent further action today, it needs to be paid in full.

Straight away there's a problem.

The owner argues he's paying the debt by monthly instalments,

as agreed and can't understand why the Sheriffs have come calling.

Worried there's been a mix-up, Kev gets in touch with the office.

Has that amount been paid, as he said, to confirm?

Yep, OK.

OK, thank you. Bye.

It's now clear exactly what's triggered this enforcement.

The owner decided to withhold almost half

of the first court-ordered payment of £600

for money he says he already paid to the claimant.

Lawrence explains that by not paying the debt as agreed,

he's violated the terms of the court's judgment

and now the full outstanding amount is due.

Because the £600 wasn't paid on the 17th July,

because it was only £350 which he's told us there,

she has the right to get us to enforce it.

The owner is far from happy,

but knows there's only one way to stop Lawrence and Kev

leaving with a swimming pool in the back of their van.

To pay up.

He asks for half an hour to find the money.

Bit of a palaver.

You know, really, you can't be taken off...

if the court orders you to pay £600, you pay £600.

But I did sort of put him in the picture

and let him know, quite categorically, where we stand on it.

Having made arrangements the owner invites them back to his office

to take full payment.

And with that, the Sheriffs are on their way.

That was paid in full by debit card.

So, yeah, happy days.

Back in Essex, and Marc and Tony are still on the premises

of QC Laboratory Ltd, trying to convince former boss

Alan Jennings to pay up £12,000 owed to former employee Teresa Kelly.

She'd worked for the company for 23 years, before she was made redundant

without receiving the payment she was owed.

I would not pay her one penny.

Unfortunately, Mr Jennings is proving a handful,

unwilling to pay up and only too aware of the limited value

of those company assets on site.

Are you going to pay any money?

Yeah, I told you, one pound.

-No, any sensible amount of money?

-No.

But this is one of its debts.

But Mr Jennings has other things on his mind.

Will they make me a star out of this?

-I think you might be.

-I think you could be.

You've got that Bruce Willis look about you.

Have I?

But even Bruce Willis would struggle to get money out of Mr Jennings.

Do you want to give us some money, Alan?

-None at all. A pound.

-Don't go on about a pound.

-Never parting with more than a pound?

-That's right, mate.

Marc's having little luck getting payment

and Mr Jennings has threats of his own...

-No, you can't lock us in.

-Why not?

-Because that would be imprisonment.

-We'd have you nicked for that.

You look like you want to go to the gym!

I'm 73, mate. I am (BLEEP) knackered from my last job.

With Mr Jennings refusing to budge, there's not much more Marc can do.

He seizes on paper what assets he can see,

but they're not worth much and Alan Jennings knows it.

And with that, Marc and Tony call it a day.

All right, we're leaving a list of goods with you.

-We're not going to take them.

-Oh, please.

You've got seven days in which to prove they don't belong to the company.

We can come back at any time.

-Any time you like.

-Even if you're here, we can come back.

-And force entry.

-And force entry to remove these goods.

YOU cannot take them goods out of here now.

But you can't. I'm letting you know.

-See you later.

-Seven days.

-Or maybe not, if you pay.

We've listed the goods and we're leaving.

We're not going to get anywhere.

It's been a tricky trip for Marc.

He's played everything by the book,

but when there's nothing like of seizable assets

to use as leverage,

even Sheriffs can hit an Alan Jennings' sized brick-wall.

The goods in there were of no value.

He just seemed quite happy to say that he'd give us a quid,

constantly and I actually do think if we did go to that extreme with him

and start taking everything out and cleared that whole place out,

I just think he'd go, "Oh, whatever, I'll just go home."

I don't think he's that bothered.

Mr Jennings now has seven days to pay.

Whether he will remains to be seen.

In the van and on the M4 to Bristol are Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev.

They've been specially hired to pay a visit

to a major multi-national company.

The man that's hired them is solicitor Amar Alyas.

He specialises in fighting for compensation for people

that have suffered deafness through working in noisy environments.

And he recently took on the case of John.

John worked for aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus UK

and its predecessors for over 28 years.

John worked in a department

where they would assemble the wings of aircrafts.

The last 10 years of his work at Airbus

he worked on the jig as an assembler.

He would use a lot of drills and these were extremely noisy.

There was air-tools as well

and there were many other banging noises surrounding.

This is the North Wales factory where John,

who doesn't want to appear on camera, worked.

But after nearly 30 years with the company,

it was clear his health wasn't what it had been.

Suffering from heart problems, he was forced to take early retirement.

Soon after, his hearing worsened and he was diagnosed with tinnitus.

The tinnitus was quite severe,

so if you can imagine spending 20 mins every hour

having a hissing and a buzzing noise in your ears every day,

it's very depressing and at times

your confidence is very low because you cannot hear people.

John's hearing was so bad, he couldn't get another job

and the loss of income meant he found himself at risk of losing something else as well.

John, due to his early retirement, has financial issues.

He's had problems with his bank in terms of his mortgage.

He's not been able to keep up with his mortgage repayments

The bank had an order to take charge of his property

and to sell the property.

After suffering in less than silence for four years,

John finally decided his hearing was so bad, he had to take action.

His case came to Amar who sent him to an expert to assess his hearing.

The medical expert gave a report,

which states that John suffered ten decibels of hearing loss.

That is quite noticeable hearing loss.

Ten decibels meant John had lost the same amount of hearing

due to excessive noise at his job

as a member of the public would expect to lose

over half a lifetime of normal hearing loss.

Armed with the report, Amar set about taking John's claims to court.

Despite numerous attempts to get a response from Airbus,

they failed to contest the case.

The judge ruled in John's favour and awarded him £31,000.

It's money he desperately needs to buy specialist hearing aids

not available on the NHS.

First and foremost, John's going to invest in some hearing aids.

They are in the region of £5-10,000.

Secondly, this money's going to help pay his mortgage on time,

keeping the bank away from taking a charge on the property

or getting an order from the court in terms of selling the property.

Despite his court victory,

Airbus UK have ignored all correspondence

relating to payment and five months on,

neither Amar nor John have seen any sign of the money.

John's last hope of keeping his home,

and getting the hearing aid he needs, lies with the Sheriffs.

And while John worked at Airbus's North Wales factory,

it's the company's Bristol head office

that Lawrence and Kev are on their way to this morning.

We've just arrived in Bristol and we're on our way at the moment

to Airbus UK Ltd who owe just under £42,500.

I'm not entirely sure what we're going to find when we get there.

If it's got assets we can seize them

and potentially remove them to be sold to clear the debt.

And there's nothing that Lawrence won't consider seizing

to get his clients back the money they're owed.

If Airbus UK, or we have reason to believe that Airbus UK Ltd

owns a plane, then yes, we can seize that.

Can we take something that's sponsored by Airbus?

-What have you seen?

-The roundabout.

Arriving at Airbus UK HQ, they park up and head in.

Security is heavy, unsurprisingly,

for one of the world's two largest aircraft manufacturers.

We're asked not to enter the premises,

but Lawrence and Kev go inside.

The £42,000 they're after may seem a lot,

but for a company with revenues of over £26bn,

it's small change.

But whether Lawrence can convince them of that remains to be seen.

My name's Mr Grix, an enforcement officer.

I'm here today to execute a High Court writ against Airbus UK Ltd.

We're here today to seize goods to the value of £42,000.

After a short time inside, Lawrence emerges.

We're just waiting for somebody to come down and see us at the moment.

The gentleman just wanted a business card.

So I'm taking him in a business card.

They're aware of it, they're just looking into it now

and then somebody's going to come down and see us.

So they know about the judgment.

Hopefully we might be moving on.

Airbus may know a lot about building planes,

but they're not clued up on how the High Court enforcement system works.

Lawrence fills them in.

There's a County Court Judgement against the company.

I've got a copy of the writ here.

The important bit is here.

You are now commanded to seize in execution the goods,

chattels and other property of the defendant authorised by law...

After threatening to seize Airbus UK property,

Lawrence and Kev are led off to a nearby building,

while we continue to wait outside.

John has been waiting nearly five months for payment from Airbus

and so far, got nothing.

Lawrence and Kev, on the other hand,

have been waiting for less an hour when they finally emerge.

Basically, we collected full payment.

They just needed to find somebody to deal with it

and once they did,

they took us down to the main office, really,

where head of legal and head of accounts is

and did a bank transfer for the full amount.

So another job paid in full.

That's a staggering £42,426.51,

including court and Sheriff fees.

Most importantly for John,

it means he'll finally get his £10,000 hearing aid

and makes sure he won't lose his house to the bank.

No wonder Lawrence is keen to share the good news.

Just collected £42,000 off of Airbus.

HE LAUGHS

Airbus told us, the situation came about

as a result of an administrative issue

and that the matter has now been fully settled.

Five months on from Marc and Tony's visit to QC Laboratory Ltd

and with no assets of any value, the Sheriffs have now closed the case.

The client, Teresa Kelly, is now trying to get some of her money back

through a charity, the National Fund.