Episode 13 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the Sheriffs.

-Let's introduce ourselves.

-We're High Court 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 to 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 just tell me who you are?

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

The High Court Enforcement Officers charged by law

to recover what a court says is rightfully yours.

-I've seized your car, sir.

-You can let us through the door or we'll go through the window.

-Wooh, wooh, wooh, wooh, wooh!

-It time to call the Sheriffs.

I've just collected 42 grand.

Coming up, Michelle Fenner is owed £1,200 by an estate agent.

I just think that they're so arrogant.

It's a total lack of respect.

Can the Sheriffs succeed where she's failed?

It's about a High Court writ that's been issued, some outstanding money. We're here to collect it today.

Steve McLaughlin paid over £3,000 for a BMW, but got a banger.

I turned the ignition key off, took it out and the engine was still running.

Can the Sheriffs convince the dealer this is the debt that needs paying?

And Lawrence and Kev Xerox in on some seizable assets.

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

which would mean clearing this place out. That shook him.

That shook him rigid.

The East End of London,

the beating heart of the capital's business activity,

a melting pot of London life.

And today, where Sheriffs Marc Newton and Tony Smith

are headed, on their way to help out a lady let down by a letting agent.

Michelle Fenner is a local councillor

in the seaside town of Broadstairs in Kent.

It's a beautiful part of the world, where she brought up son Philippe

after moving from her native France.

But after recently graduating from university,

Philippe decided to leave Kent and lay down roots in London.

He planned to do bar work to subsidise his real ambition

of becoming an illustrator.

He's always been passionate about drawing.

The minute he was able to hold a pen when he was little, he started drawing.

And it was so good that he was able to do a degree in illustration.

And there he was, he was going to use that in his professional life.

You know, we want to do everything we can to help him achieve that.

Philippe got himself a job

and agreed to flatshare with some friends.

They soon found an apartment in East London

being rented through a local lettings agency, Madison Brook.

Happy with it, Michelle agreed to stump up the £1,200 deposit and holding fee for Philippe.

All he had to do now was wait to move in,

which Madison Brook told him would be in September.

We had the address of Madison Brook, we had their details

in terms of bank account etc. It was all, apparently, above board.

There was no reason for me to be, to be suspicious of any wrongdoing.

But September came and went, and so did the moving in date.

Despite chasing Madison Brook for news,

neither he nor Michelle could get any date at all for moving in.

Desperately needing accommodation so he could begin his job,

Philippe and Michelle decided they had no choice

but to pull out of the flat.

Expecting the swift return of her deposit,

Michelle was philosophical about the problem.

I was concerned, I was disappointed,

but at the same time thinking, well, these sort of things do happen.

While Philippe went looking for a new flat,

Michelle waited to get her £1,200 back.

And waited. And waited. But nothing came.

Despite being assured by Madison Brook the money would be returned,

not a penny came her way.

They cashed the money. It was a bank transfer,

so the money was on their account immediately,

so they could start using it however they wanted.

They chose to keep it, wrongly.

I just think that they're so arrogant.

Eh, they just really are treating people badly.

Eh, it's a total lack of respect.

Eight months after pulling out of the flat, and still without her money,

Michelle took Madison Brook to court,

but the letting agent failed to attend.

The judge ruled in Michelle's favour

and ordered Madison Brook to pay her back, in full.

But to date, Michelle has still not received a penny.

No, we do care. It's a lot of money for us.

If Michelle's to get any of her money back,

her only hope now rests with Sheriffs Marc and Tony.

But before they can get any money from them,

Marc and Tony have got to find the Madison Brook office.

And in the dense lanes of London's Docklands, that's not proving easy.

-Number 20.

-Number 20, unit eight, isn't it?

-Unit B.

-Unit B. Just love numbers that go four, 15, two!

It might be 15 the unit though. That's two.

-What we after?

-20.

Unable to find it in the van, Marc decides on a more traditional method.

Look, there's a map there. We can look on the map.

-Where are we?

-There, I think.

We're up there. It's back there.

That says 14, doesn't it? That's unit 20.

They're not even on there, are they?!

We'll go and ask them what number.

I don't think there's anyone in there.

Oh, yeah, there might be.

Can local knowledge help where everything else has failed?

We're after, em, Madison Brook Lettings?

-Just over there.

-Out of here? No worries.

Thanks very much. Lovely, cheers.

-Oh yeah, there.

-That B there.

-Yeah, B there.

Marc and Tony navigate all the way around the corner,

where they find the office. They head in.

-This is Madison Brook Docklands letting agents, yeah?

-Yeah.

It's about a High Court writ that's been issued, some outstanding money.

-Right, OK.

-We're here to collect it today.

-Bear with me two seconds. If you'd like to take a seat.

-Yeah, no worries.

So far so good. They're in and they've been offered a seat.

Soon after, a manager arrives.

It's to do with a... oh, I'll just give you a copy.

A writ that's been issued against...

-Can I take a copy of this?

-Yeah, that's yours anyway. That's yours anyway. Yeah, no problem.

The manager heads off to study the writ.

On a typical day for the Sheriffs, it's rare they get a nice sit-down,

so Marc and Tony take the opportunity to browse the glossies.

Aston Martin.

But before they've had chance to get a shopping list together,

the manager's back with some news.

-What's that?

-That's done for you, OK?

-Oh, you've paid it into our... via that?

-That's right.

To Marc's surprise, and with no arguments at all,

the manager's transferred the money in full there and then

into the Sheriffs' account, which means Michelle

finally getting the cash she's owed.

Yeah. Yeah, that's spot on, all right.

-And that's yours.

-Thank you very much.

All right, lovely, no problem. Thanks very much. Cheers. Thank you. Bye-bye.

It's been as easy a job as it ever gets for the Sheriffs

and Marc is understandably delighted.

That was an amazing result, to be honest, cos we was literally in there no more than ten minutes.

The guy said the name, he had a vague memory of the name, went off,

I was expecting him to come back and question it or deny all knowledge.

And he literally came back with the thing to say that he'd transferred the money

and it's all done.

Em, to be honest, I'm amazed!

I was a bit in shock when he come back and went, "It's paid"!

But the real winner, has been Michelle Fenner,

who's finally received the £1,652,

including all additional legal costs, that was rightfully hers.

It was good that they were able to go in, get the money,

thank you very much and goodbye.

It's gone straight into the bank, and it was needed there, no doubt.

Really, the lesson is to persist.

If you know you're right and you've just got to keep at it

until you get what you want and what is really rightfully owed to you.

Being a Sheriff is neither nine to five, nor office-based.

Sheriffs cover the length and breadth of England and Wales

enforcing over 70,000 High Court writs every year.

And setting out to enforce one of those,

are Sheriffs Lawrence Grix and Kev McNally.

We're on our way towards Enfield now.

We've got another employment tribunal case with two defendants.

One is Photocopiers Direct Ltd and the other is Costas Ioannou who

I would imagine is a director of the company.

The former employee is owed over £20,000 for unfair dismissal.

But despite having been told by a court of law that the money's

rightfully theirs, they've still not received a penny of it.

Aiming to change that,

Lawrence and Kev arrive at director Costas Ioannou's house.

They park up and head in.

No-one's answering the door and neighbours soon inform

the sheriffs that that's unlikely to change in a hurry.

They've been away a little while, have they?

She's on holiday. When are they back, do you know?

They've lived there a while, haven't they?

How long have they been gone for?

-About six weeks.

-Yeah.

Duration of the school holidays the gent's saying.

Six weeks is too long even for Lawrence and Kev to wait for a debtor.

This situation is usually the end of the story for the sheriffs,

but while Lawrence fills out the paperwork,

a sharp-eyed Kev spots a clue inside Mr Ioannou's car, which might mean this enforcement isn't over yet.

Do you see that paperwork there?

Photo-imaging. So that all correlates with the erm...

Have you got any addresses on it?

-Oh, look, there we go. Unit 31.

-Cumberland Business Park.

With a possible second address traced, the sheriffs prepare to head off.

But not before they've seized Mr Ioannou's car, on paper at least.

Time to move on,

IF Lawrence can find a letterbox for the seizure paperwork...

-Round the front. Lawrence.

-Huh?

..while avoiding the attentions of his growing legion of fans.

Ah! So you've seen us before.

Don't tell him that!

Clearly, Lawrence's television fame is spreading.

Is that your first time being recognised, Lawrence?

-No, it's not my first time.

-I think it is, isn't it?

I can see by that smile on your face it is.

Bye!

They're waving to us now.

-That's your fanbase, mate.

-The whole street's out!

Putting their fans behind them,

the sheriffs head out to check out the new business address.

The boss may be on holiday but Lawrence is determined

that won't stop him getting his client the money they're owed.

Just because he's out of the country, doesn't mean

that we can't collect from his company or seize assets from his company.

If need be, he'll have to do a bank transfer from wherever

he is in the world on holiday.

So we should be able to clear it up

if there are sufficient assets there.

And 15 minutes later, they've found their way

to Photocopiers Direct Ltd's head office.

31, there. Photocopiers Direct Ltd.

-Lights are on.

-But is there anybody home?

Heading inside, there is someone home,

although it's not director Costas Ioannou, but a receptionist.

Ah! Hello, there. I'm a High Court enforcement officer

and I'm here today to execute a writ against Photocopiers Direct Ltd.

I'm here today to seize goods to the value of £20,741.01

-or collect payment. Is it Mr Ioannou the director?

-He's on holiday. Yeah.

He's on holiday. I know, I've just been to his house

and his neighbours told me he's on holiday.

Are you able to get him on the phone at all?

With Lawrence loose in the office, the receptionist wastes no time

in getting company director Costas Ioannou on the phone.

Hello there, sir. I'm here today to execute a High Court writ.

We are here today to collect £20,741.01

and we're here...we're here to seize goods to that value.

While Kev gets listing company assets, the director tells Lawrence

that he's trying to appeal the court's decision.

But that doesn't bother Lawrence or his High Court writ.

It doesn't matter that there's an appeal going on, sir.

On the 42nd day you should have paid what was outstanding

at that point in time and you didn't

so it's been transferred to the High Court for Enforcement Purposes.

It doesn't matter, sir.

It doesn't matter.

Well then your goods are going to be seized then, sir.

The director is convinced the sheriffs should stop their enforcement,

but Lawrence is having none of it.

The bottom line is that I have a live High Court writ in my possession today.

The only way you can prevent further action is to pay in full.

We're not here tomorrow, we're here today.

We don't work on promises of payment tomorrow.

We work on what you manage to pay us today.

Yep, I'll wait here, sir, and assist my colleague with his seizure. OK?

The director says he's going to talk to his solicitor.

Lawrence, meanwhile, goes off to inspect the company's assets.

Whether he'll get his hands on them, or any money, remains to be seen.

We'll find out, later.

Being a sheriff can take you to the strangest of places...

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

..in the pursuit of the oddest of things.

Oh, I see. He sold them already.

There are 3,000 sheep we were going to seize and remove.

The sheriffs have seized bikes, cars, boats and even planes in their time.

We'll be seizing an aeroplane this afternoon.

There it goes, down the runway. Follow that plane.

To get people back the money that a court of law says is rightfully theirs.

It'll need to be dealt with.

High Court enforcement officers have collected

almost £200 million of unpaid court judgements in the last three years.

The total due today is £11,757.96. How would you like to pay?

Sheriffs have more powers than bailiffs to recover money to pay off debts.

This place, trust me, could be emptied in about an hour.

These days, a High Court writ costs £60.

If the sheriffs are successful, that's it.

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

-Cheers, thanks.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

On the other side of the country, Sheriff Darryl Oreton

is on a mission to get back someone else £1,700 they're rightfully owed.

We're off to Kenilworth today. We're off to see erm...the defendant's a Michael Mooney.

Mr Mooney is a letting agent who rented out a flat for a landlady,

Sally England, but kept some of her rental money for himself.

Sally took him to court,

but when he didn't contest the case, was awarded £1,340.

But despite Sally's victory, he still hasn't paid up.

Sally's is one of four County Court Judgments Mr Mooney has against him

when Darryl arrives at his house aiming to get her her money back.

Almost immediately, he spots a valuable asset on the front drive.

Just going to seize the vehicle.

It's probably on finance but I will make a note of it.

If the car belongs to the defendant and he refuses to pay up,

Darryl can seize it to sell to cancel out the debt.

His van's parked across the drive to make sure

the car's going nowhere as he heads for the front door.

Good morning, sir.

Here for a Michael Mooney.

Got a High Court writ to execute against yourself

on behalf of Sally England.

Some outstanding rent arrears.

It hasn't been sorted, sir.

She's taken you through the High Court now.

Right. Did you have a County Court judgement

back in September last year?

Right. That's a separate issue.

We've got a live writ.

I'm here now to collect £1,722.13 or to seize goods to the value of.

Well, your vehicle will be seized.

Can you get me the documentation for that, please?

I'll just have that, sir.

He's locked the door.

It's not surprising the man is careful

to close the door behind him,

as Sheriffs have the power to enter residential properties

by open or unlocked doors or windows.

Darryl would dearly love to get inside, as once there,

he can list assets to seize, and not even the police can remove him.

A few minutes later, having spoken to his lawyer, Mr Mooney returns,

and this time he's taking precautions.

He insists the matter has now been sorted out.

It hasn't. I wouldn't be here if it had been settled.

What thing have you got?

It needs to be paid. I'm not going to be leaving here until it's paid.

I'm going to be charging £217.80 per hour on here until it's paid.

Call the police.

Mr Mooney does go inside to call the police.

That done, he comes back to the door with a request for Darryl.

Who, me? No.

I'll wait for the police, then.

I need my paperwork back as well, sir.

The prospect of the police arriving doesn't worry Darryl one bit.

Always good to have them here.

Especially with awkward customers like this.

He's not being awkward, but just tricky, putting his lock on.

Tricky or not, Mr Mooney wants Darryl gone.

Why?

I'm waiting for the vehicle to be seized.

You haven't shown me any proof yet.

Van's not going anywhere.

Moments later,

and an increasingly frustrated Mr Mooney's back at the door.

No.

Because I'm here to execute this High Court writ. This needs to be paid.

You do, sir.

You do, you do, you do.

It is against Michael Mooney.

I'll wait till the police come, sir, and then we'll get it resolved.

Do you want to give me my original copy back, please.

Do you want to give me my original copy back?

No.

That's OK, she can park it by the side of my van.

OK.

Not until you pay this, sir.

What's that, sorry?

You do.

You do.

You just had the paperwork off me.

How can I be bullying and intimidating you, sir?

I'll wait here till the police turn up.

With, Michael Mooney proving a difficult customer,

and locked out of the house, Darryl's getting nowhere.

If he's going to get any money back for Sally England,

he needs to up the pressure.

We'll see how he gets on, later.

Back in North London, Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev

are at the offices of Photocopiers Direct,

trying to recover over £20,000 in unpaid wages

owed to a former employee.

Lawrence is still trying to convince absent owner

Costas Ioannou to pay up.

In the meantime, he and Kev have started listing company assets

in case they need to seize them to pay off the debt,

and being an office equipment business,

there's no shortage of them.

These parts...

They're all toners.

So you literally just do a head count of how many toners you've got.

25 C double 52 toner cartridge towers.

I'm listing like a demon.

That's the kiddie. You're learning.

Moments later, Mr Ioannou rings back saying he's talked

to his solicitor, who's assured him he shouldn't have to pay.

But Lawrence has some news for him that might change his mind.

I've seized your car, sir. No, I haven't removed at the moment.

I'm ordered here today to seize and, if necessary, remove goods

to clear this debt, which would mean clearing this place out.

And then if there's any outstanding money after that's been sold,

I would then be re-attending your home address.

I've already been there and seized your Mercedes this morning.

If there's any outstanding balance,

I will be reattending with a view to removing goods from your residential

address if the goods from this property here don't cover the debt.

OK, sir.

Lawrence thinks his threats might be getting through to Mr Ioannou.

That shook him.

Did it?

What, going round his house?

Yeah, that shook him rigid.

But before they can list any more assets,

a call comes through for Lawrence.

But this time it's not Mr Ioannou, it's his solicitor,

and he's not happy at all about Lawrence's presence

on the premises or his threats to seize goods.

He says he's put in an appeal on Mr Ioannou's behalf,

which means Lawrence should back off.

But it takes more than a legal qualification

to stop Lawrence enforcing a writ.

That doesn't matter to our writ. We have a live writ.

It doesn't matter.

That's nothing to do with us.

I've been handed a live writ and I enforce that writ.

We're going round and round in circles.

You do what you've got to do and I'll do what I've got to do. OK?

Bye-bye.

After an hour on the premises,

Lawrence still doesn't have a payment.

Unless he can convince them they need to pay,

he could end up with nothing for his client.

Time to show them he means business.

Bring on the removal truck.

All right, Soph.

I'm going to need at least one 7.5 tonne truck,

preferably with a tail lift,

as obviously there's loads of photocopiers.

And nothing in the office is safe from Lawrence's clutches.

Are you able to back up the systems?

Do you know what you need to do to back up the systems,

because we're going to start turning it off shortly.

Everything.

Everything. It's not yours personally, is it?

It's the company computer.

Everything will be going. The chairs, the stereo, everything.

Lawrence would prefer some kind of payment

to going to the trouble of removing goods.

He decides to make one last call to the director to see if he can

get some payment out of him today, even if it's not the full amount.

Can you do £10,000, which is just under half?

And after taking a moment to think about it...

You need to do it by immediate payment, as well,

so I can check that it's in our bank account.

Bingo.

The director can't do £10,000,

but agrees to pay £7,000, with the rest to follow.

It might be less than the full writ,

but with an absent company director and only a large quantity

of toner cartridges to seize, it's a valuable result for the Sheriffs.

All right, Soph, could you check the account for me, please?

I believe the money should be there now.

All right, lovely. Cheers. Bye-bye.

And with that it's game, set and match for the Sheriffs.

A partial payment with the rest to come at a later date.

Bye-bye.

Thanks a lot, bye.

So that's job done as far as we're concerned.

There's no more we could do today.

We've probably, in fact, collected more than goods in there were worth,

so I think we've done quite well to get the part payment.

An empty house and an unpromising start couldn't stop the Sheriffs

getting a result, and they're not leaving things there.

If he doesn't get a stay and he doesn't make any kind of payment

or puts in a proposal that's accepted by the claimant,

then we'll be back.

And since Lawrence's and Kev's visit,

Photocopiers Direct have paid up the money owed in full.

Director Costas Ioannou told us

the only reason he hadn't paid the debt previously was that he

was still going through the appeals process for the Employment Tribunal.

He said he had been abroad when his final appeal had been rejected

and so had been late in paying up.

He said it was the first time he had gone through the Tribunal process,

and that the debt had now been paid in full,

and that the matter had been dealt with and closed.

Back in the Midlands, Sheriff Darryl Oreton is still locked outside

the home of letting agent Michael Mooney.

He's trying to get him to pay up rental money

he owes to a former client, Sally England.

With the police on their way,

he's desperate to ratchet up the pressure on Mr Mooney to pay up.

If he could get inside the house, he could seize assets.

But with the front door locked and chained, can he find another way in?

Sheriffs can legally climb perimeter walls or fences

at residential properties.

But today, a sure-footed Darryl just needs to lift the latch.

And he's in.

He's looking for an unlocked back door or window

to get him into the house.

But he's out of luck.

That's locked as well.

After all that hard work.

Mr Mooney doesn't want Darryl poking round his back yard again,

and locks the gate behind him.

GATE CLOSES

He obviously doesn't know

Darryl can legally climb the fence any time he wants.

But Darryl hasn't completely given up on getting inside.

He'll let the police in, I would have thought

and he may not lock the door behind him once they're in.

I can gain peaceful entry then.

That's what I'm keeping my fingers crossed for.

And 35 minutes after ringing the police...

Oh, here they are.

Got a High Court writ.

After £1,722 from him.

He's refusing entry, saying he doesn't owe the money.

I said, "Well, I'm not going to go until it's resolved,

"and you do owe the money."

He just says, "No, I don't, she owes me money, I'm calling the police."

OK.

Hence you're out here.

Not wanting to get in trouble with the office,

Darryl wants his writ back.

This is the High Court writ.

He's actually took a photocopy of it and given me the copy back

and kept the original.

Which is very cheeky of him.

Here to seize goods or collect payment in full.

If he doesn't want to let you in, what's your next course of action?

I would probably leave him a letter, give him five days to pay in full.

He said the police are coming, so I thought I'd better wait for you.

Yeah. No, you've done the right thing. No problem at all.

-You've got nothing to hide, have you?

-No, no.

Just doing your job, at the end of the day.

So, whether you want a word. Like I say...

Would you like the original back?

Yeah, if I could, please, yeah.

Mr Mooney allows the police in where he wouldn't let Darryl.

And unfortunately for Darryl...

Damn. He's locked it.

After five minutes inside,

the police come back out, having discussed matters with Mr Mooney.

Can you do the letter?

He'll accept the letter.

In that five days he's going to contact his solicitor

and find out what his options are.

Right.

With the car on a lease and unable to get in the house, Darryl

has little option but to do as he's told and leave Mr Mooney the letter.

Given him five days.

If he doesn't pay, he knows we're going to be coming back.

And indeed, some days after Darryl's visit,

Michael Mooney sent a cheque to cover the debt.

Unfortunately, it bounced.

Since then, he's agreed with the Sheriffs to settle the debt

in instalments over the next six months.

Mr Mooney told us he continues to dispute

that he owes Sally England any money,

but says because of his delay in responding to the court,

it's now too late for him to have the judgement set aside.

He says he knew nothing of the court judgment until the Sheriffs' visit

and feels he has done nothing wrong.

He said he deliberately post-dated his cheque to allow for funds

to clear into his account,

and it only bounced because it was banked too early.

This morning, Sheriffs Marc and Tony are on the road again, and today,

the only way is Essex.

They're on the trail of a second hand car dealer called Adrian Lyons,

the boss of Auto Car Exchange in Westcliff-on-Sea,

on behalf of very dissatisfied customer.

The man they're trying to help is IT consultant

Steve McLaughlin from Kent.

Steve travels extensively for work, making a safe and reliable vehicle

an absolute necessity.

I do a lot of miles.

I needed a vehicle that, basically, would allow me to get around

to my clients.

I do 25,000 miles a year.

Having decided to purchase a new car,

Steve spotted a BMW estate for sale online

through an Essex garage called Auto Car Exchange,

at which point his troubles began.

Steve wasted no time visiting the garage

to look at the car and liked what he saw.

I took the vehicle out, the vehicle drove fine,

I had no reason to question anything otherwise.

Convinced he'd found reliable transport for years ahead,

Steve struck a deal with garage owner Adrian Lyons for £3,100.

But just two weeks later, while driving his daughter home,

something terrible happened.

All of a sudden, I'm driving down the road

and the engine revs go through the roof,

so I pulled it over to the side of the road,

it was still revving very high, I turned the ignition key off,

took it out and the engine was still running,

so I got my daughter and myself to get out of the vehicle,

and then about three to four seconds after that,

the engine actually stopped.

It was quite scary at the time,

because I've never experienced that before.

The episode had destroyed Steve's engine

and the car was now out of action.

At that point, it was like, what am I going to do now?

I have no vehicle, and I need a vehicle in order to get around.

I know that it's quite serious.

Unable to let down his clients,

he was forced to make an expensive alternative arrangement,

buying another vehicle on finance.

Steve then got hold of Adrian Lyons

to say the car he'd sold him had lasted just two weeks.

But Mr Lyons wasn't that interested,

and suggested it was Steve's job to find out what had gone wrong.

I was a little bit disappointed being asked to investigate

what was wrong with the actual vehicle.

I suppose from the point of view I'd just bought the vehicle,

it was my responsibility.

Steve took the car to a BMW mechanic,

who proceeded to give him some very bad news.

The engine needed a complete rebuild,

potentially costing thousands of pounds.

All I was trying to do was see if we could come to some arrangement

with the garage, because the fact is I'd only had it two weeks.

As the vehicle hadn't come with a warranty,

Steve assumed he had little recourse with Auto Car Exchange.

Then one of his clients referred him to a part of the

Sale and Supply of Goods Act, relating specifically to cars.

He discovered because the car had failed

within six months of purchase,

it was the garage's responsibility to sort it out.

If they didn't, he could demand his money back.

Steve sent the car back to the garage,

but Mr Lyons still refused to pay for the repairs.

Steve felt he had no option but to take legal action.

This is not the way to do business with people,

and I just think there are a lot of people

that feel they can get away with things like that,

and I wasn't prepared to allow that to happen.

The case was contested in court,

and the judge awarded Steve £2,815, almost the full price of the BMW.

But then Mr Lyons still failed to pay.

All I got was a lot of aggravation. I would just like my money back.

It's now up to the Sheriffs to ask for Steve's refund in person.

It's there, on the corner, up there.

Finding the garage has proved easy.

Marc and Tony head straight inside.

-Hi.

-Hi.

I'm after Mr Adrian Lyons.

Mr Lyons.

Mr Lyons isn't there, but the receptionist gets him on the phone.

After a short wait, Mr Lyons arrives.

Come on, then, what's this about?

You Adrian, are you?

I am, yeah.

It's about a judgment that was issued

and then they've taken it to the High Court.

A Stephen McLaughlin is the claimant.

Right, I'll show you the paperwork that I've just applied for,

to the court, which I've just been down to get the paperwork

from my accountant.

Mr Lyons says he's written to the court offering to pay his debt

to Steve in instalments,

and so doesn't believe he needs to pay the Sheriffs today.

But what Marc knows, and Mr Lyons doesn't,

is that Steve already rejected this offer.

Whatever action Mr Lyons has taken, therefore,

won't stop Marc enforcing this writ.

This is still a live writ.

They didn't tell me that. They didn't tell me that at all at the time.

They told me if I sent off the necessary paperwork,

application form with £40, they would look into it.

He's wrote to the court saying I'm not accepting instalments,

which he doesn't have to.

If a judgement's been made, he doesn't have to accept instalments.

He can demand the full amount.

It's news Mr Lyons doesn't like at all.

Jumped up a bit.

Yeah.

What's that, you two getting paid?

There's a fee on there for us coming out here,

which is the Sheriff's fees.

And then the judgments cost are obviously on there,

and then VAT, and then you get charged interest.

I can't see why that's legal.

If he's refused it, why haven't they told me he's refused it?

I don't know, I can't answer for the court, I don't know.

Mr Lyons rings the court to check on where he stands.

But Marc already knows that he's wasting his time.

I've applied for making a monthly payment.

I've just been down to my accountant to pick up the payment necessary

and I've got the demand for £3,731 from the High Court.

They're here to seize goods and I'm saying to them

I've got an application to go through

and they're saying they're not interested.

Right, OK. Thank you very much.

Well, what she's saying is because there's an application

going through to Maidstone CC, that I should show that to you

and he's got an application going through to oppose it,

but she said they didn't know that.

She said I should show that to you and there'll be a time period wait

-until he decides what he's going to do.

-No.

That's what she's told me.

It doesn't put a stay on the writ, unfortunately.

The writ's still live and it needs to be paid while we're here.

It's live until the court puts a stay on it.

You can see what I'm saying...

Yeah, I can...

I've got it here in black and white from a court.

It's the second time in 40-odd years I've been to court,

there it is, asking me what to do and giving me a date, period, 14th June.

Yeah, But it doesn't put a stay on the High Court writ, unfortunately.

There's no getting round it.

Mr Lyons will have to find a way to pay,

or the Sheriffs could seize some of his cars

to auction to pay off the debt.

So what's the situation?

I need to collect the amount that's outstanding.

You won't take a cheque, will you?

No.

Let me make a phone call.

That's all right.

While Mr Lyons checks his finances, Marc takes stock.

I think we've got a reasonable chance here.

To be honest, I can see where he's coming from,

but unfortunately he hasn't filled it in.

There's a system and he's not followed the system.

No. There's stuff here, there's lots of vehicles here.

I think he's going to have to pay, to be honest,

otherwise we'll be taking some stuff away.

Dave, where are you, Dave?

Have you got a debit card with £3,800 on?

Do you want to shoot up to the showroom, pay a judgment to me

and I'll sort it out to you with something else?

All right, I appreciate that. Thanks, mate. Bye.

It's a bull's-eye for Marc and Tony.

Mr Lyons is going to find a way to pay.

Soon after, a friend arrives

to cover the payment on their debit card.

A paid in full means job done for Marc and Tony.

That wasn't too bad, actually, and we wasn't even in there that long.

He's paid in full. That's a good result for us, to be honest.

I'm quite happy with that.

That went a lot smoother than I thought it was going to go.

He was actually quite a nice guy, he was all right with us,

he was quite civil.

It's the kind of jobs you quite like doing, to be honest.

So it's all's well that ends well for the Sheriffs,

and for Steve, who finally got back the money he was owed for so long.

On June 13th I received a letter advising that they'd actually

been to the premises, and that they're pleased to confirm,

pending clearance, they've received the payment in full.

Because I borrowed some money on finance to actually be able

to purchase the vehicle that I needed straight away,

I've actually got the ability to pay that finance off now, so it means

I haven't got to find that £200 a month ongoing monthly commitment.

You know, I'm really pleased.

It's the agony of going through the whole process was worth

it in the end, and justice has prevailed.