Episode 2 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 be 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 have a letter through the door, or we'll go through the window.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

They're Enforcement Officers of the High Court,

and the law says...

they're on your side.

Just collected 42 grand.

Coming up - fitness instructor Qamar Ahmed plunged into debt

when the company he worked for didn't pay him for months.

'I was behind on mortgage payments. It just became impossible to hold on to my property,'

and it was repossessed.

Can Sheriff Lawrence Grix weigh in and get him what he's owed?

I'm ordered here to seize goods to clear the debt.

I'm starting to lose patience, to be honest.

When Lawrence and Kev visit a man with many identities...

You could call yourself Basil Brush. We can enforce against an alias.

..which one doesn't want them in his house?

Don't put your hands on me!

Yeah, what?! What?!

And tempers fray when the Sheriffs visit a tissue factory.

-Don't

-(BLEEP)

-touch my bloody stuff again!

Will the Sheriffs be soft or strong as they battle to recover an unpaid debt?

I don't want to stop your business from trading, but that's where we're at.

It's 6.30am, and Enforcement Officers Lawrence Grix

and Kev McNally are on the road.

They're in Hayling Island, near Portsmouth,

on their way to meet a man of many names.

We've got a defendant by the name of Mr Joseph White.

The Sheriffs have visited the address before, but the man

living there claimed not to be Joseph White, but Joseph McVeigh.

What's more, vehicles there belonged to a Joseph Mayday.

Lawrence, however, believes all these Josephs are one

and the same person, and intends to prove it so he can enforce the writ.

He's given us the runaround a bit, but hopefully today, we've got sufficient paperwork with us,

sufficient evidence to shut the man up, basically.

The total due is £28,605.32.

Lawrence and Kev are visiting on behalf of two former tenants

who've been awarded substantial sums by the court

after falling into dispute with landlord Joseph White over their tenancy deposit.

Arriving at the substantial premises,

it's looking hopeful there'll be seizable assets on site.

No-one's up.

It gives Lawrence plenty of time to list vehicles to potentially seize.

There was a noise there. There's definitely someone in.

Finally, they manage to raise someone from inside the house.

-Hello there, sir.

-Hi.

I'm looking for Joseph White AKA Joseph McVeigh,

formerly known as Joseph Mayday - would that be yourself, sir?

Who?

Joseph White AKA Joseph McVeigh, formerly known as Joseph Mayday...

No.

Recognise him from the photo.

At this point, our cameraman is asked to leave.

The man says he IS Joseph McVeigh.

You were formerly Joseph Mayday, is that correct?

Did you change your name by deed poll, did you?

Mr McVeigh confirms he WAS known as Joseph Mayday

but denies he has ever been known as Joseph White.

This is a problem for Lawrence, as Joseph White is the name on his writ.

Lawrence is convinced Mr McVeigh IS Mr White,

but he has to prove it.

Yeah, it's you, sir, and we're here today to seize goods

to the value of £28,605.32.

The man says he knows nothing about the case

and continues to insist he's not Mr White.

Right, who owns the Nissan Navara?

Lawrence threatens to remove the car.

Mr McVeigh says he can't, because it belongs to his son.

If your son doesn't live here,

why does he leave all his vehicles here...and where's your vehicle?

These are your vehicles, aren't they?

They're registered in your son's name.

Well, we require proof otherwise, sir.

He needs to come down with proof of ownership, sir,

or we're going to remove, OK?

Mr McVeigh goes inside to contact his son.

Meanwhile, Lawrence and Kev have found something interesting in the paperwork.

Who does a "J" like that?

That's him.

Comparing two signatures,

Lawrence believes the distinctive "J"s

are a dead giveaway that they're signed by one person.

He believes he's got his man.

Look at that "J".

That is you, sir. There is the "J" of J White, you have signed that.

Yes, you have, sir.

It's very identifiable, isn't it?

Highly identifiable. You are also known as Joseph White.

That's quite...that's quite an unmistakable "J".

Even faced with Lawrence's evidence, Mr McVeigh insists

he is not Mr White.

But Lawrence is convinced.

-You're known as J White, Joseph White.

-No.

Yes, you are, sir. We can enforce against an alias.

If you're the person... You could call yourself Basil Brush.

If you're the person known as Basil Brush,

then we can enforce against you or Basil Brush.

With negotiations going nowhere, Kev decides to step things up.

Determined to get the former tenants the money they're owed,

he heads to the van to get the clamp for the Navara.

Meanwhile, and much to his surprise...

Oh, he's gone in.

..Lawrence is invited into the house.

Perhaps Mr McVeigh doesn't realise that once inside,

Lawrence can get listing assets, and not even the police can remove him.

I'm surprised he's been invited in, to be fair.

'You've now let me into your house, so I will be clearing it out.

'That is how it goes.'

This is not what the man expected

when he invited Lawrence into the house.

He begins to take exception to Lawrence's presence.

'We're not bouncers with a clipboard -

'we're authorised to come here by the High Court.

'I'm not leaving the premises, sir.

'I'm within my rights to be here, and I will be removing goods today

'unless you clear this debt.'

Suddenly, tempers fray.

'No, don't try and push me out of the house, sir.'

With the temperature rising inside, Kev goes to Lawrence's aid.

Come in, mate.

Don't put your hands on me!

Don't...don't put your hands on me!

Don't put your hands on me!

I've gained peaceful entry, which entitles my colleague

and anybody else I invite in...

With things turning nasty, the police are called.

While they wait for them to arrive, Lawrence ramps up the pressure.

I'll need a truck to take away a Nissan Navara.

It's already on the file - 57 plate, Nissan Navara.

And Lawrence's tactics have an immediate effect.

Despite continuing to insist he's not the debtor Mr White,

Mr McVeigh agrees to pay off some of the debt - £5,000.

But Lawrence is holding out for more.

I might be able to take half.

The debt, as it stands at the moment, is not what's on there obviously,

cos we've had lots of visits.

With Lawrence standing firm,

Mr McVeigh ups his payment to £7,000 of the 28,000 owed.

With matters reaching a conclusion for today,

the police car is cancelled.

My colleague's in the process of taking the clamp off your van.

That's your copy of the receipt.

And with a part payment, it's over for today.

Lawrence's canny detective work

and tenacious arguing has once again come up trumps.

As far as I'm concerned, that was a result

because there's not a lot of evidence that Joseph McVeigh

is or was Joseph White.

I'm pretty sure he is,

and the fact that he volunteered to pay some money sort of implies that.

That will keep the wolf from the door for the time being.

And he can take whatever legal action he needs to take,

and obviously we'll go by whatever the court says.

After we filmed, Joseph White AKA Joseph McVeigh...

He and his former tenants attended court, where they...

..in full and final settlement.

It's early morning, and Enforcement Officers Lawrence and Kev

are in the van again and coming into Watford.

They're here to settle a debt with a local gym, Fitness4Less,

whose relationship with a personal trainer hasn't...worked out.

With a gym, I would think you'd find sufficient assets there to clear

the debt, so we'll be looking for full payment.

The man they're on their way to help is Qamar Ahmed, from Watford.

His personal fitness is everything to him,

and working out is his passion.

But it's not just a hobby - it's also his livelihood,

as a professional personal trainer.

After deciding to make personal training his career seven years ago,

Qamar took a job with a local gym, Sports Academy.

It's the best job I've had, it was fantastic.

But Sports Academy ran into financial problems,

with wages paid only sporadically.

The company was taken over by a new firm, Fitness4Less.

They inherited the Sports Academy wage bill

and Qamar and the other staff

hoped they'd finally get paid what they were owed.

Two breaths, let's go.

But at a meeting with staff,

the new owner had some hugely disappointing news.

They categorically said that they're not going to pay our wages

in front of the previous owner who had, five minutes before,

just said that the new owners will pay us our backdated wages.

Qamar was owed just over £4,000 in unpaid wages,

so, together with the other disgruntled staff,

he agreed to help bring legal action to fight their case.

They had already made it pretty obvious

they had no intention of paying us that money.

So that was the only sensible thing to do.

We had to take it through the courts,

so we had to stick together

and we had to take this to the tribunal.

When the judge heard the case,

he ruled that when the business was sold,

the new owner should take on the responsibility

for the previous company's unpaid debts,

including backdated wages.

It was vindication for Qamar.

Justice.

Justice has been done. Absolutely.

It was a great feeling.

But getting the money he was owed wasn't quite as simple as that.

Fitness4Less began to settle with Sports Academy's former employees,

but a signed agreement for Qamar wasn't forthcoming.

A lot of my colleagues at this point started to get paid off.

I was still being positive, I was thinking,

OK, maybe they're going through reverse alphabetical order

and I'm going to get paid right at the end.

So I was waiting and waiting and waiting

and that money just did not come through.

The stress of the legal fight

and failure to pay him the money he was owed

took its toll on Qamar.

He was diagnosed with acute depression

and signed off work.

That was the beginning of my dark path

that I had to go down. I found myself alone,

I found myself often spending days

with the curtains shut...

and I just didn't want to be seen by anyone, really.

Without his unpaid wages,

Qamar's financial situation went from bad to worse.

Eventually, it cost him his home.

That's where I used to live.

As soon as I stopped getting paid by Fitness4Less

I was behind on mortgage payments.

It just became impossible to hold on to my property

and it was repossessed.

I've been put up by good friends

and they've helped me through a lot.

Finally, a few months after the tribunal hearings,

Qamar received a part payment from Fitness4Less.

He was promised the rest would follow, but it didn't,

so he went back to the employment tribunal.

I'm very stubborn. There was no way I was going to give up on that, no way.

No way.

Fitness4Less didn't attend the latest tribunal hearing,

and a judgment was issued in Qamar's favour.

But, despite this, Qamar still hasn't been paid.

So now it's up to Lawrence and Kev

to get Qamar the money and the closure he so desperately wants.

Back in Watford, Lawrence and Kev

have finally found a place to park up.

So we can't stop here, though.

With a deep-seated fear of traffic wardens,

Lawrence leaves Kev with the van -

this is going to be one writ

he'll have to enforce alone.

He's stayed with the van

because it's got clamping signs and tow-away signs and things.

Hello there. My name's Mr Grix.

I'm an Enforcement Officer.

I'm here to execute a High Court writ against Fitness4Less Watford Ltd.

Basically I'm ordered here by the court today

to seize goods to the value of £5,399.58

with a view to selling them at public auction

to clear this debt.

Yeah. Qamar Ahmed.

While the manager gets on the phone to his superiors,

Lawrence gets to work making notes on equipment.

If need be, he could seize and remove machinery

to pay off the debt.

Right, I'm ordered here, as I say, to seize goods to clear the debt -

it can be prevented by full payment.

So your manager,

your director, whoever...

The manager runs off to call his boss again

while Lawrence tries to work out which exercise machine is which.

Handily, it's all labelled up with what it is!

The manager is back,

and this time he's got a message for Lawrence.

His boss says the Sheriffs can't take a thing.

No.

No.

Unfortunately, it's a line Lawrence has heard many times before.

I'll draw your attention to that bit.

"You are now commanded to seize in execution

"the goods chattels and other property of the defendant."

It doesn't order us to give notice,

it orders us to seize the goods to be sold at auction.

The manager gets back on the phone,

but he's soon back to update Lawrence.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If he normally starts at ten and he's sorting out his private life

then that's entirely down to him.

Yeah, I think we're going to get paid in full.

It's looking promising,

but Lawrence knows better

than to count his pennies until they're firmly in his hand.

Having agreed to wait, it seems he might not even need to -

the gym manager is back with good news.

Oh, right.

He's doing the transfer, is he?

All Lawrence needs to do

is wait to see that the funds have come through

and it's job done.

Can you just keep your eye on the bank account for me?

Half an hour later,

Lawrence is still waiting for payment.

We, meanwhile, are asked to stop filming.

I'm starting to lose patience, to be honest.

Nearly an hour after he was explicitly told

that the money had been transferred,

Lawrence gets a call from the account manager

who is only now making the payment

and wants the account details - again.

I'm now charging the waiting time, OK?

So there's another £217.80

to add to that bill.

That's what mucking about is.

Being told that a payment's being made

two hours before it is.

With Lawrence beginning to flex his muscles,

Fitness4Less are beginning to feel the burn.

They decide to cut their losses and pay up.

This time, the money does go through.

Payment at last.

But despite his success,

Lawrence is still feeling the frustration of his visit.

I could have been gone from there probably two hours before I was,

so in the end I did charge them an hour's waiting time.

Let's get out of here.

And, most importantly,

they can report back

that Qamar will finally receive the money that's due to him.

I'm very happy, and I'd like to say thank you to them.

I think I made the right choice, for sure.

With that money, I'm going to set up my own personal training business

and I'm going to make a difference in my life

and I'm going to make a difference in the lives of my clients as well.

Fitness4Less told us

that when they took over the Sports Academy gym

they did not know about unpaid staff wages

and that legal advice they were given at the time

indicated they should not be responsible.

They believe they made all reasonable effort

to get Qamar his money,

including writing him a cheque for him to collect from them.

They said, however,

that despite numerous efforts to get in touch with Qamar

they were unable to reach him

and that he left them no forwarding contact details.

Qamar's unpaid wage bill

is just one of 70,000 High Court writs

enforced by Sheriffs in England and Wales every year.

We're Enforcement Officers.

We've got a High Court writ to attend here today.

We're higher than a bailiff.

Sheriffs have more power than County Court bailiffs,

and obstructing them in their work is a criminal offence.

You've now trapped us in here,

we're going to need to call the police.

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.

We've removed one vehicle, we've seized all the other vehicles.

It was £6,900 there.

Paid it straightaway, so it's all good.

Enforcement officers Craig Wilde and Tom Coyle

are on their way to help a business customer

recover a substantial unpaid debt.

We're off to Wolverhampton today.

The defendant in this case that we're going to see

is Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd.

It's £10,750.19.

Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd had some machinery installed,

but still haven't paid the supplier.

This is Tom's second visit

he was here a couple of weeks ago,

when Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd

promised they would pay the debt.

He ended up doing a part payment of £2,500 on the day.

But this is one of the Sheriffs' more complex cases.

There are two companies trading here.

Tom found it confusing last time,

and it's about to get even more so.

Tom runs for the open door to gain access to the building.

Hello?

Now he's in, he can't be thrown out.

Mr Patel about?

Tom met company boss Mr Patel when he was here before.

Do you want to talk in there? Yeah, no problem.

What's the situation?

Yeah, yeah, no problem.

While Tom waits for word from the accountant,

Craig is looking for seizable property.

The big warehouses are locked

and in the open one, there's not much of value.

There's just a bit of tissue paper here that is worth some money,

clearly not £10,000.

I'll go and help Tom now.

With word back from the accountant, there's a problem -

Mr Patel now says the company trading here is AP Paper & Tissue,

which is what the signs on the building say.

He claims that the company on Tom's writ,

Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd,

is in administration.

If Alliance Paper & Tissue IS in administration,

or all of the assets are owned by another company,

it's bad news for Craig and Tom.

Craig checks with Companies House, the official register of companies.

There is a company called Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd,

and it is trading.

The company that's going into administration

is nothing to do with their company.

Our company is still operating and trading

and you've liquidated the old company.

It now appears that the original company named on the writ

had its name changed

and was then put into administration.

Another company with the same director, Ghanshyam Patel,

was later renamed Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd.

So when Craig searched on the company name,

it appeared to be trading.

Mr Patel gets his accountant on the line again

to try to explain.

I've got the Sheriff here,

do you want to speak to him?

It's a High Court writ of fi fa

for Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd.

The accountant again says Alliance Paper & Tissue

is in administration.

Craig's research shows it's alive and well.

As a company called Alliance Paper Paper & Tissue

is still in business,

the Sheriffs will continue to list goods for seizure

and, if necessary, Mr Patel can contest the seizure in court.

Well, we're going to carry on, unfortunately.

As Craig digs up more evidence,

tempers fray in the tissue factory.

If you start stopping me doing my job,

that is an criminal offence

and I'll have you arrested for that.

-What?

-No need to get violent, is there?

We'll come back to Wolverhampton later

to see if the Sheriffs can get the debt paid.

This morning, Sheriffs Marc Newton and Tony Smith

are heading down the M4 into Wales.

We're going to the National Engine Centre in...

Cardiff.

Total amount outstanding is £4,164.83.

The Sheriffs are on their way

to help David Conway and his wife Dorothy

from Billingham, in Teesside.

He's been retired for the past 20 years

and now loves to spend his spare time flying.

This is me hangar,

these are pride and joys.

Noddy's my best.

Yeah. The planes are part of my life.

They're very important to me.

If I didn't have the planes,

I would be just sat watching television all day.

I've crashed dozens and dozens.

This is my latest.

I'm known as Crasher Conway

because I've had so many crashes.

As his enthusiasm for his hobby has grown,

so has the size of his planes.

If David wanted to keep his hobby on the straight and level

he needed to buy a car to transport the planes in.

He decided the perfect vehicle was a Renault Grand Espace.

At the National Engine Centre in Cardiff,

David thought he had found the car he so desperately needed.

I'd seen the car online.

The car was in good condition,

one previous owner, and I really wanted this car,

I didn't want any other car.

So I got on the train and went and got it.

It was an exhausting 600-mile round trip from Billingham to Cardiff,

but David really wanted the car.

When he arrived at National Engine Centre,

David wanted to try the Espace.

He was allowed to take it for a brief test drive.

I thought it was a nice car,

so I went ahead and bought it.

The Renault Espace cost David £2,500,

all the savings he and his wife had.

But it was only four miles down the road

when disaster struck.

The car started losing power

and eventually it stopped.

Stranded with a barely working car

somewhere in Cardiff,

David didn't know where to turn.

Fortunately, he was able to get the car back to the garage

and he asked for a refund.

But the garage said if he wanted one,

he'd have to leave the car in Cardiff

and wait till Monday when appropriate staff could process it.

I couldn't leave the car there and leave me money there.

So I had to bring the car back.

With no refund,

David realised he would have to nurse the car 300 miles back home.

It took me over seven hours to drive back home

and it really was horrendous.

Desperate to find out what was wrong,

David took the car to a local garage.

They diagnosed the problem as a dodgy engine control unit

and a faulty valve in the exhaust system.

They couldn't give me an exact price,

but they said it could go into thousands.

David immediately contacted the National Engine Centre

hoping for a quick resolution, but none could be agreed.

It left him with the undrivable Espace grounded outside his home,

constantly reminding him of the ordeal.

It's put so much pressure and stress on my wife and I.

David was left with no option

but to take National Engine Centre to court. They failed to show up,

and a judgment was issued in David's favour.

The garage applied to have the case set aside

but once again were absent, and again David won the case.

Despite victory, David still hasn't received a penny.

I feel so annoyed that he's, he's got away with it.

With nobody left to help, it's now down to the Sheriffs to

answer David's distress signal.

Tony and Marc have found National Engine Centre.

There it is, there.

Quite big, isn't it?

They head in to try and get David the money he's owed.

-Hiya, mate.

-Morning.

-It's about the High Court writ that's been

issued by a David Knox Conway.

The claimant sent us out to collect the money.

-Can I speak to my boss?

-Yeah, no worries. We'll wait here.

While the man heads off to get his boss,

Marc is already getting a bad feeling about this job.

I said, "Is that the National Engine Centre?" He said, "Yeah," and then he said he don't work here.

-You are after me?

-National Engine Centre.

-National Engine Centre.

Can I have a look?

-It's not us, mate, see you later.

-Who's that? Who is it then?

That's not us.

Well, it says National Engine Centre up there.

-Yeah. What does it say on the end?

-It says "Ltd".

-Yeah.

The man claims that the name on the writ, National Engine Centre, isn't here.

The company trading at these premises is Nat Engine Centre Ltd.

Cheery-bye.

After a less than warm welcome, our camera is asked to leave.

The conversation carries on in the office,

where the man, Mr Peter Anderson, denies being the company director

of National Engine Centre, or Nat Engine Centre Ltd.

But he refuses to find any proof.

The more info you can show us, the better it is.

You got your Companies House certificate?

Why would you not do that if it's nothing to do with you?

You're moaning we're here and then you're not willing to help out.

It doesn't take long for Marc to find evidence contradicting the man's story.

You just had a delivery for the National Engine Centre.

That box there. The one that says "National Engine Centre" on top.

If you don't show us proof, we're going to start seizing goods.

Then things start to rev up at the Engine Centre.

Get up, get everyone out the garage.

I want these guys to leave, they won't go.

Yeah, yeah, they're going to be in breach of the peace now.

But it seems his staff aren't quite as keen to go toe to toe

with the Sheriffs as he thought.

So he calls the police instead.

He's actually being quite awkward at the moment.

Unfortunately, he's not cooperating at all.

He's called the police and said there's been a breach of the peace, which there hasn't, really,

but we're just waiting for them to arrive now.

20 minutes later, the police arrive.

With Mr Anderson talking to the police, Marc and Tony take stock.

The police are telling him he needs to pay or else we're going to start

removing the goods, so that's where we are, we're just waiting to see

what happens, whether we can budge him into getting to pay some money.

It looks like the only way the Sheriffs will get

David his money is by seizing goods.

Marc's been looking at what's available, and phones

the office to tell them about the substantial stock of engines.

This is loads of engines, I mean, loads.

When I say loads, I mean loads.

There's loads of them out there. There's hundreds of them.

How did National Engine Centre Ltd gain all them engines?

They didn't just turn up one day with all them engines, did they, and put them in there?

They came from somewhere.

With the argument stalling, Marc offers the man an ultimatum -

provide receipts for each and every engine, pay the debt,

or say goodbye to the whole lot.

Every single thing that's in that workshop,

I need a receipt for, in the name of Nat Engine Centre Ltd.

Right, the situation is, my colleague is now on the phone.

Tony's ordering up a truck. It's going to be a big one.

Seven-and-a-half tonne will probably be enough,

but then you're going to need a forklift,

because he ain't going to let you use his forklift, tell you that now.

He's the most difficult person I've met.

If you pay now, it will be that price,

but I'm telling you, it will go up, and it will go up by thousands.

But with the tow truck on its way and his engines about to

leave the premises, Mr Anderson has a sudden change of heart.

-Marc...

-What, money?

-Yeah.

Though Mr Anderson isn't admitting who owns the engines,

he IS offering to pay. But he's not offering enough.

-All right, what about half of it then?

-Meet us halfway.

-Two grand.

-Come on, come on.

-You Welsh boys have all got loads of money.

Finally, the Sheriffs win the battle of wills

and head back to the office for payment.

Take that, that's just to say he's paid us £1,250 in cash there.

Cheers, thank you. Bye-bye.

Let's go, get out of Wales.

Mr Anderson has paid £1,250 today,

and promises to put a payment plan in place to cover the rest.

Not as great as we wanted, but we've got £1,250 in cash off him here,

so it's a start.

But despite Tony and Marc's efforts, Mr Anderson failed to submit

a payment proposal for the outstanding amount.

Three weeks later, the Sheriffs returned

and collected the balance of £3,744.

David Conway is on cloud nine.

The money has enabled him to settle his debt

and buy the car of his dreams - another Renault Grand Espace.

The Sheriffs have come along and really done the business.

Yeah, over the moon.

The National Engine Centre told us

they had offered David a refund the day he visited

and it was his decision to instead have them repair the car

and drive it home.

They said they'd later sent him a replacement part

and offered to pay for a local garage to fix the problems.

They'd also again offered him a refund if he returned the car.

They said it was Mr Conway's decision to turn down these options

and instead pursue court action.

They said they had tried to contest the case

but that the court had lost papers.

They said, following the Sheriffs' enforcement,

they'd again offered to pay the balance

if the car was returned to them -

an offer they say Mr Conway chose to reject.

At the paper company in Wolverhampton,

the management claims the company on Tom's writ is in administration,

and doesn't have to pay.

But while searching for goods to seize, Craig has found invoices

that seem to prove Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd

HAS been trading here.

That date, still taking orders as of this date.

-The day after... You are.

-This is all scrap. It's off to bin.

It's not scrap, sir, that's the 30th August,

the day after you're saying this company goes into administration.

-Listen to me...

-This company has never gone into administration, sir.

-Listen to me.

-He will call you back now, won't he?

-Leave my personal things.

-Now we're digging, aren't we?

-What?

-No need to get violent, is there?

-Now I've found you out...

-Don't you

-BLEEP

-touch my bloody stuff again.

Now I've found you out, we're going to carry on.

-Do you understand?

-I do understand.

-That's right.

-What do you understand?

-I understand fully the situation, sir.

-Yeah.

-Old paperwork is it?

-Yeah, yeah. There you are.

Rip it up, that's fine. I'll find some more here, to be fair.

Oh, we'll carry on. Not a problem at all.

Mr Patel, that was the issue which I was explaining to you.

-There's paperwork everywhere.

-Listen to me...

-I've listened to you.

Why... Make a big deal about it? It's a High Court order.

It's not a case of making a big deal about it, sir.

-Here we go again, look.

-Leave that stuff. Don't touch so many... Listen.

-It's called diligent search, sir.

-Oh, "diligent search"?

This is none of your bloody paperwork. Don't touch it.

If you start stopping me doing my job, that is a criminal offence

-and I will have you arrested for that.

-Right.

You tell him, tell him, whose is this? AP, isn't it?

While Mr Patel argues with the Sheriffs,

their HQ has been in touch.

The administrator has sent through documents

about the company name change and administration.

But as Craig has found paperwork that seems to show

Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd still taking orders,

HQ says the evidence isn't completely convincing.

The office have told us to crack on.

It would appear that they changed their name the day that Tom was here

so in absence of the proof of the goods belonging to the third party,

our instructions are from the office to carry on

and start unplugging everything, just to push it that extra further.

Do you need the computers? Do you need to back them up or anything?

I've said to the girls.

You need to do that very quickly,

because we need to start unplugging them.

As Tom prepares to take possession of the company's computers,

Craig has used his detective skills

to get into one of the big locked warehouses.

If you look on the keypad you can see which buttons are pretty worn.

I let myself in and as soon as I got in, yeah, they were a bit upset.

While arguments continue about who owns it,

Craig seizes the stock and machinery in the warehouse.

The problem we've got with these, you know,

I'm not a paper tissue guy.

I use plenty of it to be fair, but...

Over in the office, Tom is seizing the office equipment.

Interesting day at work, isn't it?

To keep up the pressure,

Craig organises the trucks with the office.

Marc, I've got quite a large-scale removal on,

if you're available for it.

With the greatest respect,

the only way forward is payment at the moment.

I don't want to stop your business from trading,

but that's where we're at.

You're talking at least 50%.

At least 50%, which is at least £5,000.

They won't entertain anything less than that.

Having taken stock of the Sheriffs' position,

Mr Patel has agreed to find some money, and make a payment.

Craig discusses terms with the accountant.

5,000 today and he needs to put his proposal in.

OK.

Can I just borrow that calculator?

-THEY CHUCKLE

-How much, about five grand?

One of the employees heads down to the local bank,

and makes a cash transfer for £5,000.

-Thank you very much, Mr Patel.

-All right, no hard feelings.

-Take care.

No problem. Bye-bye now.

They've dismantled everything here, now we've got to put it all back.

We've paid some money out, £5,000,

which we're going to claim back now and in the meantime,

they've earned their fee, really.

We'll resolve these issues behind the scenes

and I'm sure we'll get it back. And...yeah, we'll just move on.

The naming of the companies was confusing.

The original Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd went into administration.

Shortly after, another company was given the same name,

Alliance Paper & Tissue Ltd at the same registered address.

Exactly which company owns the assets

and whether it was in administration the day of the Sheriffs' visit

is due to be dealt with in court at a future hearing.

Mr Patel told us he thought the Sheriffs had interfered

with his business unnecessarily, but even he seems to agree

they did their job well.

At the end of the day, they always win, that's what I say.

They're in the business to win, all the time.

And they've done their job today.

The gentleman got a bit irate at one point

when it was going to removal stage.

But I think it's a good resolution, all round, to be fair.

Apart from leaving with the gentleman's calculator,

which I did by accident! So we'll have to try and get that back

in the post to him.

The Sheriffs' work isn't all about collecting debts

from small businesses.

We're High Court Enforcement Officers.

Sometimes they're tasked with taking on

some of the biggest corporate names in the UK.

And this afternoon, Lawrence and Kev are on just such a case.

We're on our way to Luton at the moment, to Thomson Airways.

It's to do with a delayed flight and the total due

is £1,727.82.

This passenger's case - and soon to be thousands more like it -

have come about due to a recent European Court of Justice ruling.

If your flight is delayed for more than three hours

without an adequate reason why, you can demand compensation

from the airline at fault. It's opening the floodgates

for passengers to get back what they deserve.

-That's their logo, isn't it? Is it that top one?

-I believe so, yeah.

Thomson is part of the TUI Travel Group,

which in 2012 made £490 million in operating profit.

Will they be able to rustle up the £1,700 they need

to pay off this debt?

Hello there, I'm looking for somebody from Thomson's Airways

who can deal with a High Court writ.

Reception goes off to find someone more senior to deal with the issue.

How will Thomson's big brass react to having two Enforcement Officers

on site, with a High Court writ in hand?

Hello there. Oh, you're from legal, are you? I'll show you some ID.

Right, pop in.

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

The firm's legal team get looking into the case.

While they do that, Kev gets on with listing goods he can seize

and remove if necessary to pay off the debt.

'I'm making an inventory of your goods because

'we're here to seize goods, so I'm seizing them at the moment.

'I'll write a list of inventory of all the goods.

'Yeah, I'm not going to sit down for a minute, thanks.'

'It's basically flight delays,

'because a CCJ was issued which still hasn't been paid

'so he's used his rights to transfer it up to the High Court for enforcement purposes.'

Kev comes out to fill us in on what's going on inside.

There's obviously lots and lots of office space in there.

Hundreds of computers, desks, sofas, tables and such forth.

Televisions all round the place. We'll take the full inventory

of the place and they're just sorting out payment at the moment.

Faced with Lawrence and Kev and a High Court writ,

Thomson agree to pay, there and then, in full.

Lawrence and Kev emerge with the money in the bank

and a smile on their faces.

It was a good outcome in the end.

We got paid in full on a credit card...as we expected to, really.

It wasn't a vast amount of money, £1,700.

A company like Thomson's can easily afford that.

It's good news for the Sheriffs, but much more importantly,

for the passenger who brought the claim and who'll finally get

the money they're owed paid in full and in good time.

Thomson Airways told us

they would like to apologise to the customer for the delay in paying

the compensation awarded.

They said they operate a fair and thorough process to deal with

EU delay claims in line with the regulation.

They said on this occasion, an administration error

meant that the payment was not processed,

but that it had now been made.

They said they'd like to reassure customers that they are committed

to maintaining on-time performance across their flying programme.