Episode 10 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the sheriffs.

-Let's go and introduce ourselves.

-We're High Court Enforcement Officers.

-We're here today to execute a High Court writ.

Their job 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.

..it's time to call the sheriffs.

I've seized your car, sir.

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

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

They're enforcement officers of the High Court

and the law says they're on your side.

I've just collected 42 grand.

Coming up...

when former army medic Alan Trott worked

for a private ambulance company,

they didn't pay him for almost a year.

They just think that by fobbing us off we would go away,

well, we weren't going to go away.

Can the sheriffs get Alan his money from the camera-shy company owner?

We're looking to seize vehicles today,

you need to come and deal with this, sir.

In Wales, it's an early morning call for a surprised farmer.

Mr Hughes, can we have a word with you, please?

Can sheriffs Tom and Craig persuade him pay to his debt?

-£4,400...

-BLEEP!

-What's that for!?

And when sheriffs Lawrence and Kev try to get some money

for a wronged car buyer, they find themselves locked in the garage...

You've now trapped us in here.

Whoever has put those barriers up has now committed a criminal offence

Can they get themselves out, and the money paid?

On the road and heading to a rendezvous with a difference

this morning are Enforcement Officers Lawrence and Kev.

We're in Morden in Surrey

and we are going to Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services Ltd.

They're owing £2,947.

The man they're on their way to help is former soldier Alan Trott.

His time in the army left him with a valuable qualification.

I was a medic

and I served in that role in the '91 Gulf War.

I was with an armoured field ambulance unit.

The armoured vehicles would bring back the casualties.

We would treat them and then evacuate them to the field hospital.

Alan now runs first-aid classes for the British Heart Foundation.

But after he left the army, he and his wife

worked for Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services Ltd,

run by Robert Burch. The company hired out

private ambulances for concerts and major events.

We would go to the venue prior to the start of the concert.

If there was any accidents or any treatment required,

we would attend to them.

Give them the primary aid,

then call in the backup from the ambulance services if needed.

And the company boss wasn't plain Mr Burch.

He had a title, Lord Robert Burch.

Early impressions of him were positive.

Quite a pleasant guy, quite friendly.

Told us what the company was about, and it seemed fine.

We got on with him, OK.

At first, it was great fun, helping people

and seeing some top quality entertainment.

We saw some really big groups like Iron Maiden, Michael Buble.

But it also had its serious side.

I don't think it's any exaggeration to say that

over the time that we worked for Medical Despatch we did save lives.

But it wasn't long before problems started.

We did soon realise that they weren't the quickest

payers of wages and we were having to wait sometimes

two to three months before the money would come through.

At first, Alan carried on working for the company

on an occasional basis and was assured he'd get his money.

But nothing came.

After nearly a year of working without pay,

Alan and his wife called a halt.

That was the time we sort of said,

"We're now not going to do any more work until you...you pay us."

We offered them to pay in instalments, so we said,

"Pay us £100 a month, we don't care,

"as long as we get the money," you know, "if you're having

"problems, just pay us the a nominal sum until it's all paid off."

No response, nothing. They didn't want to know.

We were constantly being told, oh, we had to speak to the

accounts department or the HR department, this person

and that person, as if he was some sort of multinational company, you

know, instead of a guy working out of some semi-detached in Wimbledon.

Determined to get the money owed to him,

Alan took Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services Ltd to court.

He just seemed to think that by ignoring us or fobbing us off,

we would go away. Well, we weren't going to go away.

The company didn't contest the case

and a judgment was issued in Alan's favour.

But despite this, he still wasn't paid.

Luckily, he'd been watching telly.

By chance, we had seen the programme The Sherrifs

Are Coming and we were quite impressed by the way they operated.

We decided that these boys know their business

and we're going to use them.

And with Alan's writ in hand, it's now up to Lawrence

and Kev to get him his money back.

When Lawrence and Kev get to their target road,

it's not hard to spot which house they're looking for.

That's the Ranger, isn't it? What's that one in there?

This is the one that they think's leased.

-Is that the Volvo?

-That is a Volvo, yeah.

Time to see if anyone's at home.

HE RINGS THE INTERCOM

I don't think there's anybody in. Hello?

Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services?

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

I have a High Court writ to execute against

Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services Ltd.

Would you like to come to the door and speak to me, sir?

The man says Lawrence has the wrong company name.

He's not Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services Ltd.

He's Medical Dispatch Events Ltd.

Completely different.

Right, well, I've got a writ

in the name of Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services.

We're sent to any address in England and Wales

where the company has assets and we can see two of

your assets here, so you need to come out and deal with this, please.

The man argues that the ambulances on the drive aren't owned

by the company as they've instead been sold to himself personally.

And you'll have some sort of proof of that, will you?

If it's true, it means Lawrence can't seize them,

if necessary, to pay off the debt.

We're looking to seize vehicles today.

You're a director of Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services Ltd.

You need to come and deal with this, sir.

I'll wait five, ten minutes for you to get dressed, then, sir.

While the company director gets dressed,

Lawrence and Kev turn to the two ambulances on the drive.

It looks likely that they do belong to the company.

But will the company director agree?

-He's a lord by the way.

-Say again?

-He's a lord.

-Lord?

Officer's title. Lord.

-Hello, there.

-No, not having the camera.

And there he is, Lord Robert Burch.

-Not with the camera.

-He's just...

But the camera-shy lord isn't keen on talking in front of us.

He asks if we're still filming,

which we are.

Back inside the house, Lord Burch finds paperwork he says

proves the main ambulance has been sold to himself - a receipt.

But when the receipt comes out through the letter box,

Lawrence thinks it proves quite the opposite, that the car is actually

in the company's name.

You've signed it on behalf of the company,

but it says "full name" and it's got Medical Dispatch Ambulance Service.

This says it's sold to Medical Dispatch Ambulance Service.

Why did you put Medical Dispatch Ambulance Service on it, then?

Lord Burch says he put the company name on the receipt to make

it eligible for road tax exemption.

But this is a red rag to a bull for Lawrence, who thinks this proves

the car is owned by the company, which means he can seize it.

So it has to belong to Medical Dispatch Ambulance Services

and not you as an individual to be exempt from tax with the DVLA.

The director continues to insist the ambulance is not a company

vehicle, but rather his personally,

and that it would be eligible for road tax exemption either way.

You need to make up your mind, then. You're contradicting yourself.

It's either a company vehicle and that's why it's exempt.

-You can't have it both ways.

-No, you can't have it both ways.

Absolute rubbish.

To try to get Alan Trott his money, Lawrence ramps up the pressure

further by going after the second, more valuable, ambulance.

Lord Burch says it's also privately owned and therefore,

Lawrence can't seize it, but Lawrence isn't convinced.

We need to see the proof of purchase of that.

Your invoice there is in the name of the company

we're looking for. As it stands at the moment, as far as we're concerned,

that's a company asset.

If you say it isn't, you need to provide proof of that

and you need to provide it now.

Either way, Lord Burch says he can't pay today.

Well, then it's be going.

We're ordered here to seize assets of the company

sufficient to clear the debt.

As it stands at the moment, you've shown me

purchase paperwork for the Ford Ranger there,

in the name of the company.

Lord Burch heads inside to look through his paperwork

to try and prove where the money's come from

that paid for the ambulances.

He's off at the moment digging out his bank statements to

show that he personally made the transfer of funds that meant he paid

for the vehicle and if he manages to do that,

then there's not a lot we can do.

This enforcement is at a key moment, and Lawrence knows it.

Whether he can get Alan back his money now depends

on the paperwork Lord Burch is able to provide.

But after consulting his records, the director is unable to

produce any proof that he has personally bought the ambulances.

With Lawrence on the verge of towing away his vehicles,

Lord Burch decides to act and pays up.

Lawrence is put on the phone to the company accountant.

Hello, sir.

Hello there. It can be done by bank transfer.

Payment has gone through.

It's a particularly satisfying result for Lawrence,

who pushed hard on the ownership status of the ambulances.

There's your copy of the receipt.

That went quite well in the end.

He didn't seem very lordly to me.

It might be job done for Lawrence and Kev,

but for Alan, it's time to celebrate receiving the £1,900 he was owed.

We've received from the sheriff's office the full amount that

was owed, plus the interest, plus all our expenses,

so in the end, Medical Dispatch have had to pay out a lot more than

if they just paid us in the first place with a lot less hassle.

Really, really good news.

Robert Burch told us he did not know about Alan's court action

because the court summons was sent to an old address.

He said he only became aware of it when it reached the High Court

and went to the correct address.

He reiterated that the ambulances on his drive

were privately owned and only loaned to the company

and stressed that they met all DVLA requirements for

road tax exemption.

He said he had now made full payment

and considers the matter closed.

Lawrence and Kev are High Court enforcement officers commonly

known as sheriffs.

Who's the sheriff? Are you the sheriff?

High Court enforcement officers enforce 70,000 writs

and collect £65,000,000 a year, money

-rightfully owed to their clients.

-That's what you

want to see. That coming out of the van.

-We got £1,200 in cash.

-All cleared up, paid in full.

-A High Court writ costs £60.

-He's hasn't paid, so he's

transferred it up to the High Court for enforcement purposes.

If the sheriffs are successful,

there's nothing more for the client to pay.

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

-Yeah, what?!

-I'll have you arrested for that.

-What?!

No need to get violent, is there?

In Berkshire, enforcement officers Lawrence

and Kev are heading to a rendezvous with a car garage.

We're off to Reading now to a car dealer, Mazda UK Ltd,

but that is just the company name.

They're nothing to do with Mazda cars.

We've got a claimant, Mr Tom Upton, and a debt of £6,246.99.

Mr Upton bought a Mazda RXH from the garage,

but discovered it had serious engine problems.

When he asked the garage to take responsibility,

by repairing the car, or refunding him, he says the garage refused.

He took them to court.

The garage put in a defence in writing,

saying Mr Upton had refused to return the car to them.

But the judge found in Tom Upton's favour

and ordered the garage to pay £4,899.

But Tom has received nothing.

Lawrence is hopeful of getting Tom what he's owed.

We'll be looking to get this cleared in full.

Mazda UK. There it is.

With plenty of potentially seizable assets on site,

the prospects are looking good for the enforcement officers,

as they head inside to introduce themselves.

-Hello there.

-High Court enforcement officers.

-We're here to execute

a High Court writ against Mazda UK Ltd on behalf of a Mr Tom Upton.

We're ordered here today to seize goods to the value of £6,246.99.

-The owner's not in today.

-Can you get him on the phone?

Can do.

But this is Mazda UK (Berkshire) Ltd, it's a different company.

Has it just changed names

or has it just become Mazda UK (Berkshire) Ltd?

No, this is Mazda UK (Berkshire) Ltd.

Yeah, if you get him on the phone, we'll speak to him.

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

Lawrence and Kev, however, remain.

But they've already been thrown a curveball.

The manager is insisting the company now operating in the garage,

Mazda UK (Berkshire) Ltd,

is completely different to the company named on Lawrence's writ,

Mazda UK Ltd.

And a call to the office confirms both companies exist.

All right, OK. Lovely. Cheers. Bye.

But Lawrence wants to know which one the cars on site belong to.

If they're still in the name of Mazda UK Ltd, he can seize them

to sell to pay off the debt.

What you need to prove is that Mazda UK (Berkshire) Ltd

have purchased every vehicle here,

because otherwise we'll be removing one or two vehicles

to clear the debt.

While Kev gets listing vehicles,

Lawrence starts searching the office.

I'm just going to start looking through

and seeing what paperwork I can find.

He's looking for proof there are vehicles here

registered to the company on his writ.

Half an hour later, he finds what he's after -

recent paperwork in the Mazda UK Ltd name.

Every warranty is issued in the name of Mazda UK Ltd.

That is the name of our debtor company.

You can not be putting it on your paperwork because you feel like it.

Lawrence believes he's seen more than enough evidence

that the company he's after is still operating at the site.

But it isn't convincing the company to pay Tom Upton's money,

so Lawrence moves to take more pro-active measures.

We're ordered here by the court today to seize assets.

My colleague at the moment is doing an inventory.

Unless there is proof otherwise, we will be removing some cars today,

and the only way for your boss to prevent further action

is to pay in full.

It all comes down to what paperwork they've got.

Every car that's on this lot is going to need paperwork.

The threat to their vehicles finally spurs the staff into action.

They get the company's solicitor on the phone to speak to Lawrence,

who isn't backing down.

As it stands at the moment, we're getting no proof of ownership

and it doesn't look as if anyone's attempting to get

any proof of ownership of these assets.

Lawrence's arguments might have won the lawyer round.

I spoke to the solicitor.

The solicitor's advising him to pay, apparently.

This looks like good news.

But 40 minutes later, there's still no sign of the boss or the payment.

So Lawrence continues his search for documents

that will help his enforcement.

Then he finally finds paperwork he says

shows that Mazda UK Ltd

is the registered keeper of two of the cars.

I've got two bits of paperwork here showing Mazda UK,

which is the two vehicles I'm going to be taking,

because I've now got some paperwork with Mazda UK on it.

Lawrence is about to call for the tow truck

when the salesman brings him word that the boss has been to the bank

and carried out a bank transfer to pay off the debt.

It's a triumph for Lawrence, but it's not quite a paid-in-full.

It's taken three hours,

so the garage have to pay for the sheriffs' time.

He could have gone into a bank and paid that amount three hours ago

and that would have been done.

The salesman is very unhappy

about having to pay for the additional sheriffs' waiting time.

But Lawrence is well within his rights, and stands his ground

as the fees form part of the writ.

If you get somebody to do work for you, do you not expect them

to charge for the hours they're on the job?

I need you to sign and print for the receipt.

Right, so you're not signing it.

I've put on there RTS, which means "refused to sign".

OK.

I shall now order a truck to remove one of the vehicles.

-Let's get a truck.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

Refusing to pay the sheriffs' fees means the writ is still not cleared,

so Lawrence is going seize a vehicle to pay the balance.

Can you get me a tow truck, please?

Lawrence's threat to call a tow truck outrages the staff,

who take drastic action -

effectively locking Lawrence and Kev

and the cars they intend to tow inside the showroom.

But Lawrence won't be intimidated.

Right, this is the route we're going down, now, is it?

We're going to need to call the police.

You've now trapped us in here with a seized vehicle,

or seized vehicles, and our own vehicle,

which is now a criminal offence.

We've gone past the stage of it being civil now.

This is now a criminal offence.

Whoever has put those barriers up,

whichever one of you three it was, has now committed a criminal offence.

Realising Lawrence isn't going to budge easily,

the salesman offers a compromise on the outstanding fees.

You pay £400 in the next five minutes and I'll call it that.

So I'll knock off the £180.

In the next five minutes, and that's it.

Following an unpleasant few moments locked inside,

the garage pays up, including £400 to clear the writ.

Lawrence and Kev can head for the exit.

There's 400 there.

-Right. See you later.

-Bye-bye.

Full payment. Took a while getting there but to be expected sometimes,

but, no, in the end, that was a good result.

A good result for the sheriffs.

A significant payment-in-full and, best of all,

it means Tom Upton will get every penny of the money he's owed.

Enforcement officers Craig Wild and Tom Coyle

are in their usual stamping ground of the Midlands.

Their job this morning is to seize goods to clear a debt,

but the paperwork gives them very few clues

as to what the case is about.

Today, we're in Birmingham. We're after an individual,

and we've got in brackets a company name here as well to go after.

The claimant's an individual.

It's a small balance for £1,945.85.

There is... Is there any details about what it's about?

Let's have a quick look.

No, not actually indicating what it's actually to do with.

The actual address is Dir Group Customer Services.

Dir Group sells furniture and equipment for beauty salons

and hairdressers. As they pull up to the enforcement address,

Tom realises they've been here before

on a different job.

It ain't the same one. It is!

Dir Group, remember?

Do you remember we were in there for ages? Yeah.

He weren't happy, was he?

This is going to be a right ding-dong.

Tom and Craig's visit is on behalf of Sadia Azzouz from North London.

She's been a hairdresser for 12 years,

dedicated to making people look as good as she can.

I like transforming people

from very bad...very bad

to perfect and glamorous and everything.

-Shall I take your jacket for you?

-Yeah. Thank you.

I like the atmosphere, you know, the fun of it.

-Do you want a number three?

-No!

You have to give them what they want at the end,

and they are thanking you as if they win the lottery, or something.

Two years ago, she decided to stop working for other people's salons

and go into business for herself,

setting up a hairdressing salon with a business partner.

I decided, why not start doing my own business,

instead of running around all over the place?

Then you get to have your own clientele

and for this community here,

because there weren't any hair salons available...

for ladies, actually,

so we decided, you know, to do it together.

She and her business partner set about getting it up and running,

and that meant furnishing the new salon.

So I looked online

and I found this company, Dir Group Ltd,

which looks very good.

You see the website online.

You know, very serious company.

Very big as well.

So I ordered two chairs and one sink, to wash the hair,

a trolley and a stool.

Sadia made her order, totalling £844,

and paid upfront.

She was told the items would take five weeks to arrive

as they were coming from abroad.

But in that five weeks, things changed markedly for Sadia.

So, in the meantime, between me and the partner in the salon,

we had a few disagreements

so I decided that I was not going to go through with it.

It was a hard decision for Sadia,

not to go ahead with the new venture,

but one she felt she had to make.

Needing every penny of her money, Sadia then contacted Dir Group

to cancel her order.

The terms and conditions under which she'd made it

stipulated that if she cancelled in time,

she'd get a full refund.

It was only three weeks into the order.

I had been told by the wholesalers I would have to wait 28 days

for my money, but the 28 days came...

and a few weeks more

and, "Where's my cheque? Where's my money?"

-What do you think?

-I like it. Yeah. Thank you very much.

£884, ordering from Dir Group,

was quite a lot because I wasn't working at the time,

so it was the only money I had,

I was leaving home, organising the place and ordering,

so really I was very tight...money.

Sadia chased them on the phone,

but still couldn't get her money back.

I tried my best with Dir, you know,

with calls,

then I decided the calls weren't doing anything, I e-mailed,

so at least I have proof that I'm e-mailing.

But nothing was happening. It started to get very hard for me

because I have a son, he's 15,

and I have to look after him as well.

In fact, I was getting stressed with them

and not working,

leaving the business,

so everything is going downhill for me.

So I didn't know what to do until I went to see a solicitor.

She decided she had no option but to take Dir Group to court.

The company didn't contest the case

and a judgment was issued in Sadia's favour.

But Dir Group still hasn't paid up.

Now Sadia's only hope of seeing her money

lies in the trusty hands of Craig and Tom.

Anticipating a possible confrontation,

they sort out their tactics.

Do you want to try it first on a one-on-one?

-I'll try and get in, see what happens.

-Yeah.

If you can't get in, you can't get in, can you?

Craig remembers there's another entrance

where the company loads lorries,

so while Tom tries the front door,

Craig drives round the back.

The loading bay is unstaffed,

leaving the way open for Craig to get into the warehouse.

In reception,

Tom has been explaining why the sheriffs are here.

Yeah, I've got no problem... Great.

Our camera is asked to leave the building.

Meanwhile, Craig's talked to the company's accountant

and learned that Dir Ltd went into administration in 2011.

However, the name they have on the writ

is not the limited company.

It's the company's owner - dirgroup.co.uk.

We've been to these premises before for a previous writ.

We did get a run-around at the time.

The accountant was under the impression that we won't be able to do anything.

I've put the situation to him that we can and we will.

He's saying there's no money available.

We're now looking at removing some items today

if it's not resolved by way of payment,

so we're just at the moment ascertaining what

assets are available for us to remove.

Tom's been looking through invoices in the office,

and there's some confusion about the company name.

We've got Dir Group. Everything in there is in Dream In Reality.

-Yeah.

-Which you could say is Dir, couldn't you?

-Yes.

-But it's not.

-Is it Dreams In Reality Ltd?

No, Dreams In Reality... I'll get it back out now.

Mate, if it's Dreams In Reality, yeah,

that's the same as Dir. But it's only him. It's not a legal entity.

Craig is convinced that whether it's called Dir or Dreams In Reality,

this business is no longer a limited company

and these are just trading names of the company owner.

If the invoices aren't limited, the goods are going.

Because it's him trading as...

Either it's Dir or...doesn't matter.

If it's Dreams In Reality, Dir, it's still him.

The court writ, as it stands at the moment,

is still valid,

and that's what I've just told Tom, to go back in and have it out again.

Tom is back in reception talking to the secretary,

who has become more agitated.

My company is saying they are willing to argue that and remove the goods.

The woman tells Tom he's being cocky

and that the company doesn't have the money to give him.

Tom tells her they WILL be seizing goods to cover the debt

but he's not happy with what's on offer.

What you are trying to do is give us some low-value asset goods.

They don't think you're going to get the money, that's why they've sent me and my colleague.

If they thought you were going to pay,

they'd probably send you a letter.

But instead, they have two sheriffs on the premises,

determined to recover the debt the company owes.

Tom points out that it would be better to pay.

If the sheriffs end up removing goods,

there will be further expense.

We're not going to pay the contractors,

your company will have to pay for it.

If it comes to seizure, there should be plenty to go at.

All salon goods, mirrors, some flat-packs, it looks like, in boxes.

Some display goods there and computers,

desks...and quite a lot of it, to be fair.

A removal would happen here if they don't pay.

It's time to ramp up the pressure.

Get the van here.

Yeah, OK.

If the sheriffs remove furniture today, it will be sold

at auction, where it could raise only a fraction of its retail value.

Rather than see the sheriffs take a lot of goods,

the company starts to look for money.

They can raise £2,000 cash, leaving them £500 short.

How it comes, I don't...to be fair, I ain't bothered, you know what I mean?

But it has to be the full amount.

Still short of the final £500, the sheriffs, once again,

threaten to remove valuable salon chairs.

I can accept the 2,000 but it won't be just two chairs that will be going.

It will be a lot more chairs.

If we're looking down the route of removing for part of the payment,

there's a lot more cost involved.

You're talking about £1,000 odd extra involved.

Tom comes outside.

Discussions between him

and the woman on reception are not going well.

She did seem helpful at first

but she's got very irate as I've had to tell her the sort of

facts that if it's not paid, goods are going to be removed.

She's become very upset with me.

Er, so we manage to work it as you can in a two-man team,

where Craig's communicating with her now because, obviously,

she's very upset to have me in the room,

cos I've obviously told her things are going to go today.

Craig's diplomatic skills seem to have paid off.

Finally, a result.

-See you.

-Ta-ra.

The balance on the account was £2,493.

Er, we explained to them it's not a problem,

we can still take the cash but we're going to have to take

some goods away for the remaining balance.

They were quite happy for us to do that, erm, but unfortunately

their interpretation of taking goods away with us was different to ours.

They hadn't taken into account the other costs which are involved

if we do take goods away from anybody.

She said, "Well, the director may have left some money in his office."

So, she went away to check and came back

and miraculously she found the other £500.

So, it was totally paid in full, £2,493 in cash.

Erm, so therefore it was a good result.

We've been here before, we know the score

and we're both experienced in what we do. So...

Different calibre of officer.

Craig and Tom wouldn't give up on the final £500.

So, they have recovered all of the debt owed to their client.

Even if it did mean Tom fell out with the woman on reception.

She didn't want to see me, erm, so I had to walk out first.

She wasn't too interested in seeing me, was she?

She wasn't my friend.

I don't think he's on her Christmas list, to be fair.

I don't know how much to thank them, really.

You know, not just because of the money and because of the help

they bring you in life, you know, to stand up and continue.

I'm so grateful to them and I'm so happy. Really, really happy.

West Midlands based enforcement officers Craig Wild

and Tom Coyle also cover Wales

and are firm believer in the proverb "the early bird catches the worm".

It's nearly four o' clock this morning.

We're just heading off to Wales.

Get there pretty early in the morning to try and catch these people in.

I can do the weather for Wales wherever I am in the country,

I can let you know what it's going to be...

wet.

Right, we're on our way to a job today. It's for an individual.

Erm, it's in Gwynedd, for an amount of £4,498.48.

The case involves two farmers.

Farmer David Hughes rented land from another farmer to

graze his sheep on for about £2,000.

He also bought bales of hay and silage to feed his animals.

The total bill for rent and silage was just under £3,000

but Mr Hughes has paid only £500.

Now the sheriffs are heading up Mr Hughes' farm track

to get all of the money owed.

IMPERSONATES WELSH ACCENT: A bit of Welsh lamb.

The sheriffs are here to seize assets

and there are vehicles clearly on view in the farmyard.

We'll keep the gate shut, we'll block the gate in.

-So, at least we've got all the vehicles...

-Yeah.

..secured in.

Craig and Tom's tactic of arriving early seems to have paid off.

Hello, Mr Hughes?

We're High Court enforcement officers from the sheriff's,

can we have a word with you, please?

He's gone straight past the door, Tom.

He'll probably come around the outside.

Hello, sir.

All right.

I'm here today to execute a High Court writ, unfortunately for you.

Balance on the account is £4,498.48.

-What's that for?

-Do you know the claimant at all?

-I know of him, yeah.

Unfortunately, he's taking you to court for the monies owed.

I don't know anything about this.

Despite Mr Hughes' excuses, Craig is here to collect the money owed

and he needs to be paid today.

-It has to be cleared funds.

-Cash.

-It's cash or it's a card payment.

Right, well, I've got...

at the end of the day, I'm not...

this is nothing to do with sort

of...I don't know what it's about.

How am I going to pay something when

I don't know something about it?

I would naturally assume that the claimant would have been

in contact with you with regards to payment, I would have thought.

-I used to buy silage off him a couple of years ago.

-Right.

So, it could be something to do with that, then.

No, I paid him as I was getting it.

Then I don't know. All we do is get involved in the High Court writ, sir.

David Hughes didn't contest the case

and a judgment was issued against him.

Mr Hughes said he's received no paperwork about the case.

Because he hasn't paid,

the other farmer's now taken his claim to the High Court

and hopes the sheriffs will be able to get him what he's owed.

So, what do we do now, then?

Well, either we see the payments or we're here to seize the goods.

-What goods?

-Cars, household items.

Well, the cars aren't mine.

Craig explains to Mr Hughes that he will have to prove the vehicles

belong to someone else or they will be seized.

I'm acting under a court order, so that court order empowers me today

to require the money from you in full. Now, obviously,

if you haven't got the money in full I will take that on board,

but how much can you raise today?

-So, how much do you want?

-£4,498...

-Bloody hell! What's that for?

Again, Mr Hughes, I don't get party to that.

All I get is a defendant and a claimant.

Mr Hughes says he'll have to drive to the bank

to find out how much money he has.

So, how much do you want?

Well, as much as you have, to be fair.

They normally talk about at least 50% of the liability.

I haven't got that much, I'll be honest with you.

-How much have you got?

-Erm...

I don't know. I'd have to speak to...

-Well, if you want to have a quick chat with her first.

-Janice!

How much money can we pay these people?

They're something to do with silage.

Where are you going?

That's the end of the camera.

At this point, our camera's asked to wait outside

while Mr Hughes looks for funds.

Mr Hughes is trying a couple of debit cards to see what he's

got on them, trying to levy out the situation with some payment today.

Because they're only getting part payment now,

the sheriffs will seize goods to cover the rest.

If Mr Hughes doesn't pay in full within five days,

those goods can be taken away.

Is it a debit card or a credit card? Debit card.

If I can get you to sign and print your name there, sir.

All right, Mr Hughes? Thanks very much, sorry to disturb you.

With the paperwork signed, Mr Hughes wants to put his side of the story.

I'm speechless.

When these chaps turned up, that was the first I knew of it.

There's been no postal deliveries of any kind here.

Mr Hughes tells us the dispute was about some silage he bought,

which he claims was rotten, so he refused to pay.

He shows us what he says is an example of the bad silage.

How you supposed to feed that to your animals?

You cannot feed that to sheep.

You just cannot cos that would kill them.

So, I've refused to pay for them.

Mr Hughes claims he received many bales of bad silage.

The other farmer says they left his yard in good condition.

But the silage made up less than a third of the debt,

which was mainly unpaid rents for fields Mr Hughes had used.

It's been a success. We've woken Mr Hughes up this morning,

we've took a part payment of £400 today off him.

He is disputing it and is going to continue to dispute it,

which we explained is his legal right,

but he needs to pay some money today.

And since we filmed, the two farmers went back to court,

where they agreed a payment of the remaining £2,000 from Mr Hughes.

The matter is now closed.

It's early morning in North West London

and enforcement officers Lawrence Griggs and Kev McNally

are heading towards their latest date with a debtor.

We're heading towards Uxbridge at the moment

to a company called Rainbow Logistics.

We're looking for £2,692.24.

A British woman arranged for Rainbow Logistics

to send some clothing for her to Uganda.

But despite paying them for the privilege,

the clothing never arrived.

The woman took the company to court where they contested the case

but the court sided with her.

Despite this, the debt's still not been paid.

So, now it's up to Lawrence and Kev to get her the money she's owed.

Rainbow Logistics.

-That looks gone, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

Sheriffs have the power to force entry at commercial premises

like these, if necessary, but today they're in luck,

as Kev gets buzzed straight in.

My name's Mr Griggs, I'm an enforcement officer.

I'm here today to execute a High Court writ,

here today to seize goods to the value of £2,692.24.

The only way to prevent that is to pay in full.

The somewhat taken aback staff member goes searching for the boss.

Lawrence, meanwhile, has got a job for Kev.

Just check out the van, Kev. There's a van.

-Check one out?

-Yeah, it's a Sprinter or something.

If you go through that door on the side, I would think.

Wanting some leverage to get the debt paid,

Lawrence has already spotted two vans he could potentially seize.

In going to check them out, Kev gets lucky.

In one of the vans, he's found something else too.

Just have the keys out of there.

Got the keys for this Transit so obviously the Transit's been seized

at the moment so the keys are in it so I'll just...

take the keys, look after them until we get payment

and they can have the keys back.

The keys will make the van much easier to remove

if they do need to take it with them.

Back upstairs, Lawrence is put in touch with the boss.

Hello there, sir.

I'm fine. My name's Mr Griggs, I'm an enforcement officer.

We're here now, sir, you need to make the payment now.

We're here to seize goods now.

We don't take cheques, sir.

It's cleared funds so it needs to be bank transfer...

or a card payment or cash.

Right, then you need to come here, sir,

if that's the only way you can do a bank transfer.

You need to come here now.

Downstairs, Kev is carrying out a diligent search for assets

relevant to the company.

And he gets lucky again -

a second set of keys for the other van.

Keys for this van now. So, we'll keep them.

And with both vans and keys seized,

someone's clearly feeling the pressure.

News comes through that the boss is willing to pay.

It's what Lawrence and Kev had been hoping for.

The boss is doing a bank transfer from home, so...

He's not bothering to come here once I explained...

..that we charge for the time on site.

But more than 15 minutes later, there's still no sign of any money.

Lawrence keeps the pressure up.

It's not showing yet. Do you want to give him a ring

and see if he's done it yet? Because if he's at home,

it shouldn't take that long to do it.

Can you get him to get a screen print as well?

And moments later, there is finally good news.

-Here is your copy.

-Yeah, looks all OK.

It's got the reference number, right account number on it, sort code.

After less than three quarters of an hour on site,

it's a paid-in-full in the bank.

Receipt issued, it's job done.

-Anything else?

-No, that's it, we'll leave you in peace.

-Cheers, mate, bye-bye.

-Have a nice day, gentlemen.

With not a lot in the way of assets, it was the seizure of the van

that left the company with no choice but to pay.

Once they know that that could potentially go,

we know we're good in the fact that we can recover our money.

He had no choice and he paid a transfer immediately, so job done.

Happy with that. Good start to the day.

And with that, the sheriffs head off with a payment-in-full.

It's good news for the former customer,

who will finally get the money she rightfully deserves.