Episode 8 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the sheriffs.

-Let's introduce ourselves.

-We're High Court enforcement officers.

-We 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

are charged by law to recover

what a court says is rightfully yours.

I've seized your car, sir.

Either let us through the door, or we'll go through the window.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

It's time to call...the sheriffs.

Just collected 42 grand.

Coming up...

Karen Wileman sold her Ford Galaxy for £4,500

through a car dealer, but didn't get a penny from the sale.

I have to admit that some nights I've gone to bed, haven't slept,

annoyed that I'd lost this money,

you know, for me and my family.

Can the sheriffs right the wrong and get her her money?

We've been sent here today to seize goods or collect the money.

Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev take on a windows installation company

on behalf of a former employee owed wages.

We've got a High Court writ against Mercury Windows Ltd.

Can they get him the £6,800 a court says he's owed?

This is an attempt at transferring assets

to defeat paying this debt, isn't it?

And Darryl and Marc go on the hunt

for over £40,000 of unpaid rent.

-I can get two grand.

-You need to get more than that, sir.

On the road again, sheriffs Lawrence Grix

and Kev McNally are heading east from London for a date with

a company who haven't paid one former employee

the money he's entitled to.

We're in Ashford in Kent. We're on our way to Mercury Windows Ltd.

Their latest assignment is on behalf of a man who,

having worked at Mercury Windows for over ten years,

was dismissed without warning or notice pay.

He doesn't wish to be identified.

He took his case to court, where the company contested it fully,

but the judge agreed with the former employee

and ordered Mercury Windows to pay him £6,800

in compensation, which the company has failed to do.

-Oh, Mercury.

-Here we go.

Now, it's a matter for the sheriffs.

Arriving at the company headquarters, Lawrence and Kev

park up and head in.

-Hello, mate.

-Hello there.

Mercury Windows Ltd, yeah? We've got a High Court writ.

We're here today to seize goods to the value of £8,188.49,

with the potential to remove them and sell them at auction.

Nothing's owned by Mercury Windows?

Straightaway, the staff member tells them,

although this is the company's registered address,

nothing at the site belongs to Mercury Windows.

Unsurprisingly, Lawrence isn't convinced,

and demands to speak to the company director.

Hello, sir.

Yeah, my name's Mr Grix, I'm an enforcement officer.

I'm here with a High Court writ.

The boss, Michael Warren,

is quick to say that as no assets there are registered to

Mercury Windows, there's nothing the sheriffs can seize

to cover the company's debt to its former employee.

Lawrence explains it's not quite that simple.

Unless there's proof to back up his story, this enforcement

to recover the money owed to the former employee

is going ahead as planned.

We would need confirmation.

My colleague's going to take an inventory, anyway.

He's started doing that now.

I'm seizing anything on these premises that's got any value.

If it's not owned by Mercury Windows,

it's down to whoever does own it to prove that they own it.

Who owns the assets?

Tuthill Property Ltd?

And are you a director of Tuthill Property Limited, as well?

Lawrence's grilling of company director, Michael Warren,

is quickly giving him an idea of what's happened here.

All the assets at the Mercury Windows base, have been

transferred to another company, which Mr Warren also happens

to be a director of - Tuthill Property Limited.

This is perfectly legal and could be bad news for the sheriffs,

but Lawrence isn't ready to back down yet.

And there's a financial trail to show that as well,

where one company bought the assets from another.

It needs to be a full inventory of what was transferred.

You can't just be 15 desks, five computers,

everything has to be detailed specifically.

If you're able to get that to us, that will be a start,

then we can exclude things that are on your list.

OK, thanks, bye-bye.

He's going to email it over.

While they wait for the promised proof to arrive,

Lawrence holds fort in the office,

as Kev finishes his list of potentially seizable assets.

In cases like these, the smallest details can be

the difference between payment in full and leaving empty-handed.

Perfectionist Lawrence has high standards for Kev to live up to,

when it comes to listing assets.

-No reg on the fork-lift, no?

-No.

-No name on the groover machine?

-No.

Get as much down as you can, mate, just so they can be identified.

A few minutes later, an email arrives,

with the boss's own inventory of the assets he claims have been sold

by Mercury Windows to his other company.

Lawrence isn't impressed. It's time for another phone call to the boss.

We've seen your inventory, I don't know if your guy has told you.

Unfortunately, from our point of view,

it's not worth the paper it's written on.

If you were buying a car, you wouldn't expect a receipt

from a car dealer saying, a vehicle, would you?

There needs to be some way of proving what is what.

It's got on it, a fork-lift, for example.

I've just said, "How can you prove to me

"that that's the fork-lift that's out there now?"

But today he's facing an adversary whose attention to detail

rivals his own.

There's photographs of everything, is there?

That's what we need to see. We need to see the photographs.

Cheers, bye.

Apparently, there's photos to go with all the items on the inventory.

Later, we'll find out

if these photos do indeed provide the proof Lawrence needs to see,

to prevent the company assets leaving with the sheriffs...

I can see you've already tried to transfer the assets out

into the name of another company.

..or whether the former employee gets back the money he's owed.

This morning, sheriffs Marc Newton and Tony Smith

have got up early and driven through the dark

for a first-thing appointment with a South Coast car dealer.

I'm off to an address in Bournemouth. It's 6.45 in the morning.

We're looking for J Nabil and Mrs Watkins.

We're looking for an amount of £4,044.

Hopefully, give them an early-morning knock

and we'll get some sort of answer.

The person they're on their way to help,

is Karen Wileman of Bournemouth.

When she decided to sell her car,

she thought it would raise a few pounds for her and her family.

But her decision to sell it through a particular local dealer,

has instead left her in a dispute so serious,

it's forced her to court and to the door of the sheriffs for help.

Sophie, come up here. Come up here. Quick.

Mother-of-two Karen works for the local council.

18 months ago, she decided to upgrade her wheels, and invested

in a second-hand Volvo XC90 4x4 to help transport her family.

It meant she no longer needed her old car, a Ford Galaxy.

Looking round to sell it, she spoke to the dealer that had

sourced her new Volvo, Joe Nabil of JL Trade Group Ltd.

Joe said what he would do is he would sell the car for me,

take £500 commission and obviously give me the rest.

I agreed to that, he came round, I gave him the keys,

all the paperwork and he went off with the Galaxy.

Thinking Joe Nabil was in the process

of trying to sell her Galaxy, Karen thought no more of it,

until, a few weeks later, she got a letter.

And then I got a letter through the post from the DVLA to say

I was no longer the registered owner of the Galaxy.

I thought, "That's strange,"

because he's obviously sold my car and not told me.

I just couldn't believe it.

I didn't want to believe it, because, obviously,

if I believed it, then I'd know instantly I'd lost £4,500.

Karen got in touch with the dealer, who confirmed to her

that he had sold her car for £4,500,

but that the person who'd bought it

wasn't happy with it and wanted his money back.

It meant, he said, he couldn't afford to pay Karen.

He said, "Sorry, Karen, I'm so sorry,

"I didn't want to worry you with it, I've been trying to deal with it

"on my own, but there's lots of problems with the car.

"The person that's bought it isn't happy and wants his money back."

You know, "I just...just don't want to worry you with it,

"but I'll sort it out and be in touch."

I said, "Well, basically, Joe, you've sold the car

"from your business, as far as I'm concerned, that's a deal,

"I just want my money."

Karen arranged to visit the dealer to discuss the problem with him.

But far from resolving things, the meeting made them worse.

I said, "Look, Joe, can I have my money?

"I trusted you as a professional to sell my car,

"I trusted you to do the checks,

"I trusted you to prepare it for the sale,

"I trusted you to make sure that your customer is happy."

I said, "How can that be my fault that your sell has fallen through

"and I end up having to pay it?"

I said, "I don't understand that."

He said, "Well, you know, I can't afford to lose any money."

I said, "Joe, I can't afford to lose any money."

I said, "I've given you £8,500, for a Volvo already,

"I can't afford to give you another £4,500

"just because you didn't do your job properly."

"Take what I owe you, then send me a cheque."

So we shook hands, he said,

"There'll be a cheque out to you at the end of the week."

But Mr Nabil's cheque never materialised.

Two weeks, no cheque, phoned his mobile, he didn't answer,

sent him a text message, he ignored it,

so then I realise that he wasn't going to pay me.

I started to really panic then, I thought, "Oh, no,

"they're not going to pay me for the car."

So I contacted my solicitor, my solicitor wrote a letter saying,

you know, "Can we have the money for the car? You've sold the car,

"just send Karen the money."

He ignored the letter, my solicitor wrote again saying,

"If you don't pay for the car, then we will take legal action."

But she still didn't get any money from Mr Nabil.

Karen decided she had no option

but to go through the daunting process of taking him to court.

I have to admit that some nights I've gone to bed

and I haven't slept and I've woken up three in the morning,

four in the morning, you know, feeling annoyed

and annoyed with myself, annoyed that I'd lost this money,

you know, for me and my family.

Just determined to get my money.

Joe Nabil fought the case in court, but the judge agreed with Karen,

and ordered Mr Nabil to pay her £3,000.

Despite this, Karen's still not received a penny.

Now, Karen's last hope of getting her money back rests with

sheriffs, Marc and Tony.

Arriving at the registered address of Joe Nabil's car business,

they find a number of potentially seizable vehicles

parked on the drive.

It's a positive sign.

Time to introduce themselves.

Hiya, I'm after Mrs L Watkins.

This is a High Court writ that's been issued by a Karen Wileman.

We've been sent here today seize goods or collect the money.

It's Joe Nabil's partner, Lisa Watkins.

She admits she's aware of the debt,

but says her name shouldn't be on the writ with Mr Nabil's.

She says they've applied to have the judgment set aside.

For Marc, though, this doesn't change the situation.

At this stage, it's not set aside - it's a live writ.

It's nothing to do with me. We were getting my name taken off it.

My partner has been in contact with the court.

As I explained, this is still a live writ,

which means we can still act on it today, unfortunately.

You need to pay it.

We haven't got the means to pay it, at all.

Lisa Watkins says they don't have the money

and isn't prepared to let the sheriffs in.

If you're not in a financial position,

we're going to have to take goods away.

This is where we are today.

How do we get on? Because I'm not prepared to let you in.

We'll be seizing vehicles off the drive, then.

Well, those vehicles are not in our name.

With Marc and Tony's attention turning to the vehicles

on the drive, car dealer Joe Nabil appears at the door.

He explains none of the vehicles belong to him

and so can't be seized to pay his debt to Karen.

We don't have the documents for the vehicles so check with DVLA.

-We don't. I'm a car dealer.

-I understand that.

Check with DVLA, do numberplate checks

and you'll see they're not in my name.

I have contracts with private individuals.

If what Joe Nabil says is true,

without the leverage the cars provide,

this assignment just got a lot harder for the sheriffs.

Marc decides to go on the offensive.

-Obviously, this is in your name personally.

-It's in my name, yes.

I'm a sole trader.

Can you do anything today?

Yeah. What would you need?

-Something reasonable.

-Something reasonable.

-When you say reasonable.

-Can you do £1,000 today?

No. Absolutely not. I don't even have that in my bank.

What are you saying you can do?

-I can do £500 today.

-It's a start.

As Mr Nabil's partner goes to get the money out from the bank,

Marc and Tony hold a quick strategy meeting.

She's gone off to get some money out the cashpoint for us.

They're going to pay some money, not what we want,

we'd obviously like the whole amount.

But, to be honest, if we can get them paying, it obviously helps with our

whole case if you've started to pay now, so let's keep it going.

His partner returns with the promised £500 in cash,

and Joe Nabil hands it over.

Now the challenge is to convince him

to sort out the rest of Karen's money.

You need to put in what you've got incoming

and what you've got outgoing and explain this is what you can pay.

-500, mate, eh?

-500, yeah, 500.

Joe Nabil agrees to work out exactly how much he can afford and then

make Karen an offer to clear the debt in monthly instalments.

Keep up the payments going, once you've set this arrangement,

-keep it going.

-Yeah.

-Get it cleared off.

We've listed that vehicle cos, obviously, you can't provide proof

that it isn't yours.

If you want to send in the proof when you get it with that, yeah?

With the car dealer promising to keep paying Karen back and

acknowledging he must provide proof that none of the vehicles on his

drive are owned by him, Marc and Tony have done

all they can for today.

Hopefully, you'll just get paying and we won't see you again, but if

you've got any problems, you give me a call, yeah? All right?

-Cheers, mate.

-No problem, bye-bye. We've got the guy paying, you know?

Obviously, he hasn't paid anything for over six months.

At least we've got some money off him this morning. So at least

we've got the wheels in motion now, which is good.

Finally, for Karen,

it looks like her long ordeal may be coming to an end.

Right, I got a letter to say they managed to collect

the sum of £500 cash, which is a good start, I'm quite optimistic.

Joe and Lisa have assured them that by 1st December

they'll be sending the rest to them.

So, yeah, I'm pleased with the £500 and I'll await the extra shortly.

As officers of the High Court,

occasionally the sheriffs are sent to enforce a debt of such size

that there's little realistic chance of the defendant being able to pay.

We'll be seizing an aeroplane this afternoon.

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

This morning, Midlands sheriffs Darryl Oreton

and Marc Povey are taking on one such assignment at the home

of a man owing a huge sum of money in rent arrears.

Just coming into Cambridge now... We got a balance of £41,208.77,

so it's quite a large amount, residential property,

hopefully there's some decent assets either in the house or on the drive

if we can gain access.

Darryl and Marc are in the historic university town of Cambridge.

They've been tasked with enforcing

a High Court writ against Cyril Weinman, who signed a 21-year lease

on a shop premises for his dog-grooming business

but later sub-let the property to another business

without the landlord's permission.

Six months later, this new business left and stopped paying the rent.

When the out-of-pocket landlord, Dennis Whitfield,

contacted Cyril Weinman to ask what was happening,

he said it was nothing to do with him as he'd sold the business.

The landlord sued Mr Weinman for

failing to fulfil his rent commitment.

When the case was contested in court,

a judge ordered Mr Weinman to pay £22,000 in unpaid rent with

the landlord's considerable legal costs on top.

When this mammoth debt remained unpaid,

it was passed to the sheriffs.

Arriving at the address on the writ,

they park up and prepare to ask for a debt which, including legal costs,

sheriffs' fees, interest and VAT, is now over £40,000.

-Good morning.

-Morning, sir.

Enforcement Officer from the High Court.

-Morning.

-Morning. It says here, "The High Court writ against

-"Cyril James Weinman" - is that yourself?

-Yes.

OK. I got sent out here today to either... It's £41,208.77

or to seize goods to the value.

'Cyril Weinman tells Darryl he's in the process of selling

'another of his properties, which has a charging order on it

'for the money owed to Dennis Whitfield.

'This means when the sale goes through, part of the proceeds

'will automatically be used to clear the debt.'

-It's secured in a property of mine, which has been sold.

-OK.

We've still got a live writ today

so that isn't going to affect anything at the moment.

We need this money today.

-I don't have it.

-You don't have any of this?

It will be a seizure of goods, then.

-Basically, I've got nothing.

-It would be goods in the house.

Is that your vehicle outside?

No. Mine, I sold six weeks, seven weeks ago, basically it clapped out.

Mr Weinman goes to fetch some paperwork,

leaving the front door open.

Darryl takes the opportunity to follow him inside,

as he's legally entitled to do.

Straightaway, he spots something.

Jaguar key ring.

Marc. Go and block that car in. There's a Jaguar key ring there.

Marc goes to block in the Jag with the sheriffs' van.

We're going to make... start making a list of goods now.

Just start applying some pressure. Obviously, it's £40,000,

so it's a lot of money to raise.

We'll try and get a part payment today, get him on a payment plan

for the balance until the house is possibly sold.

Cyril Weinman says the Jag is his son's.

Darryl demands to see proof of ownership.

-So it is in your name.

-No, he's Cyril Weinman.

-You're the registered keeper.

-He's been living here for a time.

Right, the vehicle's going to be seized, unfortunately, Cyril.

It's a start.

But with over £40,000 owed to the out-of-pocket landlord,

there's a long way to go.

And when Mr Weinman makes another offer,

it's some way below what's required.

Probably, pushing it, I can get two grand...

We'd be looking at more than that, Cyril.

It's clear there aren't sufficient assets here to pay

the over £41,000 debt owed to Mr Whitfield.

Despite this, it's still Darryl's job to execute this

High Court writ like any other.

He explains to Mr Weinman that he needs to start dealing with

the debt or they'll have no choice

but to start removing assets from the house.

If I believe the goods are in jeopardy today,

-they will be removed today. We can't leave this property now.

-OK.

Mr Weinman tells Darryl he has a court appointment in an hour's time,

relating to another matter.

With his car blocked in and seized,

it doesn't look like he'll be making it.

As there's no realistic chance of collecting the full amount today,

Darryl wants to be fair.

-I can probably accept five now.

-I can't raise five.

Do you want to try? It's ten past eight now so you've

got pretty much 50 minutes to get us five grand here now.

-That's the best I can do. You're owing £41,000.

-I realise that.

I need £5,000 before we can leave this premises,

before I release your vehicle.

Twist it a bit for me, a little bit more.

I've already twisted it down from 41,000.

5,000. Cash, debit or credit card or bank transfer.

-You want five grand?

-Yes.

-That then stops the action?

Stops any action today. How is it likely to be paid, then, Cyril?

-I've got the cash.

-Oh, right, OK.

Despite saying he could only manage £2,000 earlier,

as if by magic, Cyril Weinman comes back downstairs with a large

wad of cash for significantly more.

Marc goes to help him count it.

I'd rather do it in front of you.

Let's hope it's as close to five grand as we can. Obviously,

we'd like more but there's nothing of huge value.

I know we've got the vehicle, but it's still

nowhere going to clear 41 grand's worth of debts, eh?

Has Mr Weinman come up with the promised £5,000?

What have we there? Four?

-How much is there, Cyril?

-20, 40, 60, 80, 90.

So that's 4,1. So we're 900 short.

And I can see you've made the effort getting 4,1. If you tell me you

-can get the other 900...

-Five o'clock.

Five o'clock this evening.

With over 4,000 in cash collected and another £900

to follow by the end of the day, it's a solid result for Darryl

and Marc in difficult circumstances.

We pushed for more when we got there

but we didn't really a great lot of leverage.

It's just over 10% of the debt we've got, it's not a great amount

but it's not bad, not a bad result.

For the landlord, Dennis Whitfield, it's a positive first step

in getting back the thousands in unpaid rent owed to him.

Lawrence and Kev are still at Mercury Windows Ltd in Kent,

trying to get a former employee the unpaid wages a court says he's owed.

Earlier, Lawrence spoke to company director Michael Warren,

who claimed that all the assets on the premises had been sold to

Tuthill Property Ltd, a company he's also the director of.

Lawrence was less than convinced of his story and demanded proof.

When Mr Warren sent through an inventory of these items,

Lawrence's suspicions only deepened.

Unfortunately, from our point of view,

it's not worth the paper it's written on.

If you were buying a car, you wouldn't expect a receipt from

a car dealer saying "a vehicle", would you?

You know? There needs to be some way of proving what is what.

But Mr Warren then claimed to also have photos that could

positively match every item on his list to the assets

on the premises, therefore proving the transfer was genuine.

Stickler-for-detail Lawrence now wants to see every photo.

So if you can go back to the first picture,

I can see the two air compressors.

But with the photos matching up to the assets on the boss's list,

it's looking like Lawrence will have to admit defeat here.

Yeah. Two Microsols, yeah.

He's got one last card to play, though.

What I need to see is a bank statement..

..showing these amounts, either separately or together going between

the two different companies.

Lawrence listens with bated breath as the staff member

calls his boss again.

They say, can you go on and do the online banking and show where

this money's being paid?

If Mercury Windows' director can provide

proof of the transaction, this enforcement is dead and buried.

It hasn't been paid?

It's owed?

Right, OK.

Right, we're taking it, then.

It's the breakthrough the sheriffs desperately needed.

Despite the assets' ownership being transferred from Mercury Windows

to the other company, no money has passed between them.

Hello, sir.

Lawrence takes over the call to tell Mr Warren

as far as he's concerned, the sale is null and void.

Then the goods are going, sir, as they still belong to Mercury Windows.

No, it all still belongs to Mercury Windows.

Yes, it does.

You've now admitted to me that funds were never transferred.

This invoice has never been paid.

Those assets still belong to Mercury Windows.

No, it doesn't matter.

They've never been purchased.

Sensing victory, he turns the pressure up.

I'll tell you what this is, sir. I'll be quite blunt with you.

This is an attempt at transferring assets to defeat paying this debt.

Isn't it? The transfer...

The transfer paperwork was drawn up three days before the tribunal.

I can see you've already tried to transfer the assets out

into the name of another company,

so I now believe the goods to be in jeopardy,

so I will be removing them today.

At this point, Michael Warren performs a major U-turn

and says he'd like to pay in full.

Not a problem.

We catch everybody by surprise.

I have, yeah. Bye-bye.

Lawrence's top-notch negotiating has got the desired effect.

Okey-dokey, here we go.

Time to bring out the trusty chip-and-pin machine.

There's that one.

There's the receipt.

With the full amount owed to the former employee collected,

it's a superb result for the sheriffs.

-Thanks, gents.

-Cheers.

-Cheers, guys.

-See you later.

-Bye-bye.

Dealing with a sheriff of Lawrence's experience,

not having all your documents in place is asking for trouble.

Unfortunately, for the debtor company,

the assets had never been transferred.

The money had never actually been paid,

so, you know, the transfer just effectively hadn't happened.

The goods still belong to the original debtor company,

so we were able to seize them,

which prompted the director to pay in full, over three cards.

Lawrence and Kev work for this High Court enforcement company

in South London.

Boss David Carter has over ten years' experience

in this line of work.

Sheriffs are High Court enforcement officers

and we enforce County Court judgments in England and Wales

that are over £600 and up to six years old.

We're looking for full payment or removal today.

It's a fairly known fact that

most of the public don't realise that they can use us.

-Hiya.

-If you have a judgment that hasn't been paid,

they can be instructed to attend anywhere in England and Wales

to recover the debt you're owed.

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

A typical day for a sheriff can range from a variety of things.

They will generally start very early...

It's just before 5am now.

..calling on residential premises

to try and catch people in before they go to work.

Mr Ban! Enforcement officers! Can you come downstairs, please?

We're there to recover the money for the creditors.

If we're successful, then it's a happy day for the guys on the road.

That's the cash there paid, so paid in full.

Lovely, thank you.

We've had a variety of incidents with our officers on the road.

-One was run over by a car.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-We've had one stabbed.

-Don't push, don't push!

They get threatened on many occasions.

-Don't touch me. Get your hands off me.

-I'll call the police.

It's dangerous, which is why it's often a two-man job these days.

Obviously, it's a threat to kill. That's why I've called you guys.

To be a good sheriff,

you need a variety of skills and these include negotiation...

Right, have you got anything

to say who you are, like your company's house certificates?

-It's diplomacy...

-I'll listen to what you have to tell me, sir.

I will always pay you the courtesy of doing that.

However, it doesn't prevent us enforcing today.

But it's also being authoritative

and making people understand the powers that you have.

You've got the option to pay now and we've got the goods, unfortunately.

As High Court enforcement officers, we recover around £65 million a year

for unpaid creditors and these are people that are owed the money.

They've been through court, they've got their judgment

and still the debtor hasn't paid.

Just clamp it. Clamp it. Clamp it.

It's very easy to demonise us

and not understand that we're also the good guys for a lot of people.

-Right, I hope I won't see you again.

-Hopefully not.

Well, not under these circumstances!

Hallelujah, eh?

On the road again, in South London, are sheriffs Lawrence and Kev.

They're on their way to the type of business

you wouldn't expect to have not paid a debt awarded by a court.

We've got a debtor by the name of A-Z Law Solicitors.

The total debt is £50,484.70,

so it's a substantial debt.

It has actually been contested.

They've taken it to the Court of Appeal and lost,

so they are well aware of the debt

and hopefully it'll just be an oversight

and they will have the funds to pay it and we can get it cleared.

As law enforcement officers,

it's rare that sheriffs chase up debts from legal practitioners.

But as they park up and head in,

that's exactly what they're planning on doing today.

Hello there. Is this A-Z Law Solicitors?

-Yes.

-Sorry?

-Yes.

-Yes?

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

The employees get the boss, Mr Khan, to come and talk to Lawrence.

Hi there.

I'm an enforcement officer.

I'm here today to execute a writ against A-Z Law Ltd.

As Mr Khan takes Lawrence and Kev into his office,

we're asked to leave the premises.

Lawrence leaves the boss in no doubt as to what he's there for.

We're here today to seize goods to the tune of £50,484.70.

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

My colleague is taking an inventory at the moment.

Worried about Lawrence's threats to remove goods,

Mr Khan tries to invoke the law on his side.

He says all the equipment in the office

qualifies as tools of the trade,

which would mean the sheriffs wouldn't be able to take them.

Lawrence tests his theory with a few questions.

You're saying this is tools of A-Z Law

and I'm saying to you, "Who is A-Z Law?"

Who are the other people? Who's the person out there?

The man admits they're his employees.

Right, so it's not tools of the trade.

If there's more than one person working for the business,

if there's an employee, there are no tools of the trade.

If it's a limited company, there are no tools of the trade.

Tools of the trade are for one person and one person only,

maybe a plumber or whatever in his van

with his tools that he needs to carry out his business.

Mr Khan then decides

the other people in the office aren't his employees.

Don't try and move the goal posts just because you've tripped up.

You need to sort out some money today

or the goods from here are going.

But Mr Khan refuses to pay anything at all.

Getting increasingly frustrated, Lawrence decides not to hang around.

Right, would you all like to back-up your computers?

Because I'll be removing them very shortly.

Everything in here is liable to go.

One of the employees tells Lawrence

they're planning on a further appeal in the case,

this time to the Supreme Court.

But that doesn't succeed in impressing Lawrence.

But all that's irrelevant if there's a live writ, which there is.

I'm willing to negotiate

over what you've got available in funds today.

As the debate continues,

the boss still refuses to pay anything at all.

OK, then then the goods will be removed.

I've had enough.

I'm about to call a truck.

If you can tell Cathy I need a seven-and-a-half tonne truck

as soon as she can get one here, please. If she can give me a ring.

Are all your computers backed up, sir?

It's up to you to back it up. I'll be unplugging them.

Everybody, you need to back-up your computers.

This is your only warning.

We will be coming round and unplugging them very shortly.

Despite the threat of the tow truck,

the boss continues to insist he's a sole trader

so Lawrence can't take his assets.

You are not a sole trader. Just please go to the bank.

Faced with losing his desks, filing cabinets and computers,

Mr Khan realises he's got to pay something.

He heads out to see about raising some funds.

Kev, meanwhile, keeps the pressure up.

I'm going to start with these computers next door.

This one's all backed up, I presume, is it?

Nearly an hour later, Mr Khan comes back

and says he can afford to pay £7,000 by bank transfer.

As it's more than the goods in the office are worth, Lawrence agrees.

Hello, Suze. Put the truck on hold for a minute.

-Bye.

-Lawrence checks the transfer has gone through.

Is that the bank on the phone?

-Yeah.

-Hello there.

Right, and can you just give me details of the beneficiary account, just to verify?

That's right, yeah, and how much?

Yeah, thank you. Bye-bye.

And with that, the money's in the sheriffs' bank account.

Time to go,

but not before Mr Khan gets in one final gesture of defiance.

Just got some paperwork for you to sign, Mr Khan.

Are you going to sign it?

OK, I'm not waiting around any longer

because we've already been lenient on the waiting time charged already.

I'll bid you good day. Thank you. Goodbye.

War of attrition.

£7,000 has been transferred but the man was an argumentative nightmare,

just wouldn't listen to what we were saying

and was coming up with effectively worthless arguments.

Every time we sort of took a step forward, we took ten steps back.

There's £7,000 paid

but some £43,000 still outstanding.

Mr Khan has the sheriffs off his back for now

but if the debt remains unpaid,

you can be sure they'll be back.

The sheriffs often find themselves

in the middle of disputes between businesses

that are far from straightforward.

This afternoon, Lawrence and Kev are en route to one such case,

with a High Court writ to enforce against a London greengrocer's.

We're going to Palmer's Green.

It's a company called Ornec Ltd,

trading as 1001 Supermarket.

The claimant is their accountants,

so obviously not paid their accountants' bill.

The total we've got due is £2,459.34.

Given the limited shelf life of most grocery items,

Lawrence has a clear idea of what goods they'll be looking to seize today.

I'd imagine the main assets will be wet stock and possibly cigarettes.

In a city full of convenience stores,

finding the right shop could prove tricky.

What number do we want?

342-344.

262, so we're on the right.

Supermarket 1001, that's it.

That's it. And there's a space.

Time to park up and introduce themselves to the boss.

Hello there, sir. Are you the boss?

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

And I've come here today to execute a High Court writ against Ornec Ltd,

trading as 1001 Supermarket.

I'm here today to seize goods to the value of £2,459.34.

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

-How much?

£2,459.34.

Is what for?

Well, it's for your unpaid accountants' bill, I would imagine,

being as the claimant is your accountants,

so have you not paid your accountants?

Yeah, of course I paid them.

Well, they've got judgment against you for £1,567.19

which they've transferred up to the High Court for enforcement purposes

and with all the additional costs, it's now at £2,459.34.

Could I speak to my accountant?

-Sorry?

-Can I call them?

-Yeah, sure.

Start with the wet stock, mate.

They've got wet stock behind the counter over there.

As the seemingly confused man

goes to call the new accountant he now uses,

Kev gets on with listing the shop's prime assets.

They've got fags as well, Kev.

We're asked to leave, but continue filming from the street.

Having got through to his current accountant,

the man passes the phone to Lawrence to speak to him.

Hello? And can I just ask you who you are?

So you're another firm of accountants.

Yes, I'm here to execute a High Court writ.

The total amount outstanding is £2,459.34.

We're here today to seize goods to that value.

My colleague is at the moment taking an inventory of the contents of the shop.

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

The store boss tells Lawrence

he knows nothing about the judgment against him

and hasn't received any letters about it.

Well, I don't know, but everybody tells us that.

Nobody says, "I got all the letters and I couldn't be bothered to deal with it."

Everybody says they haven't had the paperwork.

If the court sent out a letter, it's deemed to have been delivered

unless it's returned to sender.

It's looking like this shop's window could soon be emptied.

Then the shop's new accountant calls back with an offer for Lawrence.

We don't take cheques, sir.

It's got to be cleared funds.

They can be bankers' drafts, a direct bank transfer

or it can be paid in cash or on a debit card or credit card

with a chip or pin machine, which we've got.

It's crunch time for the boss -

pay up or the sheriffs will be forced to remove goods.

Lawrence turns the pressure up.

It needs to be full payment as well

because we're not actually ordered here today to collect the money.

We're ordered here to seize and remove goods to be sold at auction

because the money should have been paid before, and it hasn't been.

This tough stance has the desired effect.

The boss finally agrees to pay,

in full, in cash.

Sign there and print there for me.

I'll have my pen back. Cheers!

HE LAUGHS

There you go. Bye-bye.

It's another payment in the bag for Lawrence and Kev

with a minimum of fuss.

There's just one problem.

-How did we get a parking ticket?

-Oh! I put an hour on it.

We've been an extra half-hour. Grab that off, then.

Despite this unexpected expense,

it's still been a good afternoon's work for the sheriffs.

We got paid in full but copped a parking ticket for our trouble.

Lawrence explains

this may not be the last they hear from 1001 Supermarket.

What he was saying was, it was two firms of accountants

and they merged together and then they split or something

and he'd ended up paying both firms.

He said he's going to get it back off them,

take his own legal action against them because he's paid twice

and I told him where to come to get the judgment enforced

if they don't pay him. We could end up

getting this same bit of money going backwards and forwards a few times.

It's a positive result for the sheriffs

from a potentially tricky job.

A "paid in full" means the people they've come to collect for

will finally get the money a court says they're owed.