Episode 5 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...

CAR HORN BEEPS

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 the letters 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...

pregnant beauty therapist Victoria Lille

was unfairly dismissed, and locked out.

He locked the door and left me out on the pavement, crying.

Sheriffs Darryl and Craig are confronted by her former boss...

-Are you going to leave?

-No.

We can discuss it.

There's no discussing it.

Can they get Victoria the £26,000 she's owed?

Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev attempt to remove an illegally moored boat.

Kev, it's not going back on.

You can't stop me, it's my possession.

When the boat owner resists...

Back on, now. I'm in my possession.

..the police get involved.

And when we join Sheriff Pete Spencer at a Yorkshire garage,

the owner is not happy to see us.

-Get the

-BLEEP

-out of my site.

-All right.

-Now!

Today Darryl and Craig have partnered up

to visit a beauty salon,

but they're not there to go wild with fake tans and pedicures.

We're just coming into Sutton Coldfield now,

we're going to a company called Urban Glow.

It's an employment tribunal owing just over £31,000,

so it is a huge amount we're going to collect.

This is the lady the sheriffs are trying to help -

Victoria Lille, a trained beautician and new mum from Rushall, Walsall.

Victoria's ordeal started a year before son Kai was born.

She saw a beauty therapist job advertised at Urban Glow

in Boldmere, close to where her parents lived.

Being passionate about beauty and make-up,

she seized the opportunity and got the job.

I was working from nine o'clock in the morning sometimes

until nine o'clock at night.

And within two weeks he'd promoted me to salon manager

because he said he was impressed with my work,

and how I interacted with the clients.

I was over the moon!

Four months later Victoria and her fiance Chris

discovered she was ten weeks' pregnant.

She told her boss, Robin Hampton-Cornforth.

Initially he was pleased and congratulated Victoria

and her family on the good news.

But only four days later, he dismissed her.

It completely tore me apart.

I just didn't know what we were going to do.

What made it worse was the manner in which she was dismissed.

Instead of telling Victoria face-to-face,

Mr Hampton-Cornforth told Victoria's mum instead,

who was working part-time as the salon's receptionist.

In a text message he said, "Can't keep her, she's pregnant.

-"LOL.

-BLEEP

-off."

It's quite obvious why he fired me -

because I was pregnant.

Being dismissed was just the start of Victoria

and her family's problems.

She visited the Urban Glow salon

hoping to collect £800-worth of personal equipment

that she had put into the business.

However, Mr Hampton-Cornforth had other ideas

and refused to let her inside.

It was a freezing cold day, it had been snowing

and he locked the door and left me on the pavement crying.

Victoria called the police who assisted her in collecting

her things from the premises.

The stress of the situation led Victoria into depression.

I found it hard to get out of bed, I was that low and that down.

My partner would come home from work and I'd be in tears every day.

Victoria started having problems with her pregnancy.

I was admitted to hospital on two occasions

because I was in early labour, which they managed to stop.

They said it was due to all the stress.

Luckily Victoria had the support of her family,

and with her father's help

she found strength to take her former boss to court.

Mr Hampton-Cornforth didn't appear in court to contest the case.

The judge found that Mr Hampton-Cornforth's behaviour

had led to Victoria's stress,

and that he dismissed her because she was pregnant.

Her former boss was ordered to pay her over £27,000

for loss of wages, stress and discrimination.

When the judge informed us of the judgment that he was making

and the amount that it was for,

I was just thinking, you know,

"I don't have to worry now, I can provide for my little boy."

And now this judgement's made, I won't have to see him again,

I won't have to face him. The court case is over.

It was just a relief. That pressure had been lifted.

Despite the court order,

Mr Hampton-Cornforth still hasn't paid her the money.

She's left with only one option.

I don't know what to do, so the sheriffs are our only option really,

are our last resort.

It's now up to the sheriffs to get Victoria and baby Kai

the money they are owed.

Darryl and Craig have arrived at Urban Glow in Sutton Coldfield

with the massive task of recovering a debt,

that with interest and costs is now £31,000.

Hello! Oh, sorry.

Is the, uh, manager about at all?

Yeah, if the boss is here, yeah, thank you.

-Is that him, is it?

-Yeah.

Victoria's former boss,

Robin Hampton-Cornforth is soon on the line.

We're High Court Enforcement Officers

and they've sent us out to execute a High Court writ today.

It's an employment tribunal case.

He asks Craig to go into the back of the shop

so he doesn't disturb the customers.

Then he asks the sheriffs to leave altogether.

We can't go outside the shop, sir,

we're authorised to execute the High Court writ whilst we're here.

Well, I can, sir.

Quite simply, I've got a court order to execute whilst I'm here.

No problem, I'll wait for your call.

While they wait for Mr Hampton-Cornforth,

Darryl realises they've got a problem.

The debt is £31,000.

But even though there are some fairly valuable sunbeds,

the assets in the shop are worth nothing like that amount.

Just then the owner arrives.

All right, lads. Do you want to leave?

-Hello, sir.

-Do you want to leave?

-No.

We can discuss it but we're not leaving.

There's no discussing it. This is going to a tribunal case,

It's been referred by the judge.

At the moment we've got a live writ.

Well, as far as I'm aware...

As far as you might be aware, that may be, but it's...

What are you filming for? Can you stop filming?

I don't want you to film me.

At this point, the owner pushes our camera out of the way,

and asks us to leave the building.

He then tells Darryl and Craig

that he didn't sack Victoria for being pregnant,

that he didn't go to the tribunal because he didn't see the papers,

and that he's appealing the findings in any case,

so doesn't think the sheriffs should be there.

You're going to appeal against a judgment that's already been made,

this is what they call a live writ.

The situation that he's facing at the moment is £31,000.

What money have you got available?

We've hit a bit of brick wall at the moment,

they've not tried to raise any money,

made no attempt to raise any money,

he just keeps on saying he ain't got it.

They've got £300 and they're still on the phone to the solicitors.

With no money on the table, Craig calls in a removal truck.

Just then Mr Hampton-Cornforth's wife arrives.

She says the sunbeds can't be seized

because they are rented and don't belong to the company.

Without the valuable sunbeds,

to raise even a fraction of the £31,000,

the sheriffs would have to clear out the salon -

stopping Urban Glow from doing business.

Rather than see the salon effectively closed,

the couple finally start to look for funds.

They come up with £5,000 over the next couple of days.

We got a part payment today of £3,000

with a further £2,000 being paid tomorrow.

That's not bad - start chipping away at it.

A good result to get that amount of money off a liability of this size.

It may not be the full amount, but £5,000 in the sheriffs' bank

is worth more than all the salon's assets sold at auction.

After all of Mr Hampton-Cornforth's protesting

he never went to back to court to appeal against the judgment.

Instead he has agreed to pay Victoria £250 a month

until the outstanding balance is cleared.

We've got this little one and we've got the great news

that...what the sheriffs have done, so we're so happy now.

Mr Hampton-Conforth disputes Victoria Lille's

version of events, saying...

..saying he believed another ex-employee

had used his phone to make the text.

He says she only worked for him for two-and-a-half months,

and therefore...

It's just after sunrise

and Enforcement Officers Lawrence Grix, Kev McNally

and a colleague are in London on their way

for a little trip down the Thames.

But they're not there sightseeing.

They're enforcing a writ on behalf of the Port of London Authority,

reclaiming a small part of their riverbank.

We're heading to Battersea this morning, actually by the river.

There's a chap with a houseboat that's moored where he shouldn't be.

We've already moved him on once and he's made his way back.

So we've now got a writ of restitution.

The boat owner, Nick Hale, moored his barge on the bank in 1997

and has lived there, rent-free, ever since.

He claims the landowner is happy for him to be there.

The Port of London authorities say the river belongs to them.

They took him to court. Mr Hales argued his case, but lost.

The judge ruled he was squatting unlawfully.

With Mr Hale still refusing to move,

the authorities had to forcibly tow his boat away.

But soon after, Mr Hale and his boat moved back.

So now the Sheriffs have been tasked with removing it for good.

Ours isn't to reason why on these things.

We've got the writ to get him off that bit of foreshore,

which is what we're going to do.

They're not after the boat,

which will stay in the boat-owner's possession.

Their task is merely to remove it from the section of riverbank

where it's not supposed to be.

And, to ensure it's removed safely,

they're not allowed to remove it with the boat-owner on board.

They arrive at the waterside.

-Will he be expecting this or not?

-Let's not make too much noise, eh.

The boat's there, but at first glance, Mr Hale appears not to be.

Lawrence thinks the boat is locked from the outside.

I don't think he's in there at the moment,

which is good news for us,

because it means we haven't got the trouble of getting him off it.

If he turns up, he won't be getting on his boat.

We'll wait for the river authorities now.

Tide's coming in, high tide and then we'll get the boat away,

hopefully get the job done.

But moments later, it becomes clear there is life on board.

I know you can go. I'll stay here and supervise.

Kev and his colleague leap on the boat.

With a bad knee, Lawrence decides to watch from the shore.

Mr Hale, is it?

My colleague executed a writ of possession on you before

and the boat was towed off.

You're obviously in breach of that because you've come back.

So we've now got a writ of restitution to move you again.

But Mr Hale is still less than convinced

by the orders of the court.

-You shouldn't have come back at all.

-But I'm attached to their land,

so it's down to them whether I should be here or not.

You're in the river, sir, which is River Authority's...

Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute.

But by getting off his boat, Mr Hale has played into Lawrence's hands.

Kev? Here a minute, mate.

So the situation is, that if they went for...

He's not getting back on.

You can't stop me, it's my possession.

It doesn't matter, sir.

-You can't stop me.

-Yes, we can, sir.

-How?

-Yes, we can, sir.

Because the boat is a vessel, it's a chattel.

It's where it shouldn't be,

and we have the right to remove the boat from where it is now

in accordance with the writ of restitution.

To enable us to do that we need you off it.

You've come off it of your own volition

so you're not getting back on it.

End of story.

But Mr Hale isn't one to obey Lawrence's instructions.

I'm back on now. I'm in possession.

OK. I'm in possession of the boat.

The court orders didn't say that I couldn't return here.

-It doesn't have to specifically say you can't come back.

-But it does.

No, it doesn't.

But Lawrence isn't interested in the legal ins and outs.

All he knows is the High Court has ordered the boat removed

and any attempt to stop them would be in contempt of court.

I need to go inside to get my papers.

What you need to do, sir, is get off the boat.

-No.

-If you don't, we'll just call the police

and have you arrested for obstruction of an Enforcement Officer

in the execution of a writ of possession.

I have a legal right to object to a writ of restitution.

You have a legal right to do whatever you like.

Yeah, in the court when they go and apply for it.

But the fact is, I have a live writ of restitution.

All right, I need my other phone

and I need some papers out of the boat.

We're not letting you back in there.

You need to leave the boat.

Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea,

the boat-owner takes the opportunity to tell us his side of the story.

The thing about the Port of London is they're going round

and anybody who's an individual on the river,

they're attacking them with all the legal might they possibly can.

Under the public right to navigate, it also says that when a vessel

has been moored for a certain length of time, it can't become a nuisance.

It can only be a nuisance at the time that it was put where it was,

and with the passage of time, it can't become a nuisance.

Mr Hale argues that where his boat is moored

does not belong to the Port of London Authority,

but another landowner, who's happy for his boat to be there.

He also believes his long residence on the riverbank

gives him some protection.

But the court judgment was quite clear -

where his boat is moored does belong to the Port of London Authority

and Mr Hale has no right to be squatting there.

With Mr Hale still refusing to leave his boat,

Lawrence can't execute the writ.

He's not prepared to debate any further,

and calls in the police to get Mr Hale removed.

We've got a writ of restitution to remove a boat from the foreshore.

We can't actually possess the boat because it's where he lives.

But he's on it and refusing to leave.

We need him arrested for obstructing an enforcement officer

in the execution of a writ of possession

to allow us to drag the boat out and away.

Later, we'll see what happens when the police arrive.

You're not going back on the boat now, Mr Hale.

Come here a minute.

You've pushed your luck and I'm not impressed.

The sheriffs are enforcement officers of the High Court.

Armed with a High Court writ, they can get you the money you are owed.

Getting the writ will cost you £60.

If the sheriffs succeed, there's no more to pay.

If they don't, there's a £60 admin fee.

Enforcement Officer Pete Spencer is heading into South Yorkshire.

So we're attending a car garage this morning just outside Sheffield.

The total due today is £4,419.15p.

The case was brought by a car owner

who was unhappy with a vehicle she bought from Hilltop Car Shop.

She tried to get her money back from the garage,

and when they wouldn't pay, she took them to court.

Now she's called in the sheriffs in an attempt to finally get paid.

Here we are, Hilltop Car Shop.

Reasonable sort of cars on the forecourt,

so hopefully it won't be too bad.

Hi. Are you OK? We're looking for a Mr Darren Barrett.

He's not here? Who's in charge today?

-Me.

-Right, OK.

OK. We'll have to go inside, we'll...speak about this, yeah?

Hopefully he'll be able to help us.

We are asked to stay outside.

The writ is against Darren Barrett, the garage owner.

But the men in charge today say all the cars

are owned not by Mr Barrett but by Hilltop Car Shop Limited.

If that's true, Pete won't be able to seize them.

What I need you to do is to produce purchase invoices

for these vehicles that are on site

because I need to identify who's bought the vehicles.

When the invoices are produced,

the garage's story seems to stack up -

they are in the name of Hilltop Car Shop.

They tell Pete the garage had made an offer

to pay off the money in instalments.

She made an offer of £200 per month.

You're quite happy to stick by that.

Pete calls the office to see how to play it.

There is a file full of auction purchase invoices

in the name of Hilltop Car Shop, not Darren Barrett.

No problem, I'll speak to them now then

and just explain that scenario.

The £200-per-month plan was seen by the claimant, but she rejected it.

There's news on the car ownership as well.

The cars can't be owned by Hilltop Car Shop Limited

because that is a dormant company,

and a dormant company can't trade - and that would include buying cars.

Pete looks at the invoices again.

It's not a limited company on the purchased invoices,

it's Hilltop Car Shop.

That's not good news from your side.

Pete gets through to the garage owner, Darren Barrett, on the phone.

The owner's coming down to the garage to see Pete.

He was supposed to be going on holiday,

and Pete's not expecting him to be in a good mood.

Everyone's saying they don't want to be here when he comes.

I don't really know whether to ring police

or just wait and see what he's like when he comes.

He were perfectly fine on the phone.

While he waits, Pete seizes the vehicles on the forecourt

he now believes are owned by Mr Barrett.

Hi, is it Darren? Hiya, you OK?

The owner arrives, and does not want to be on camera.

He tells Pete the claimant still has the disputed car,

and she also wants to be paid.

Black and white - that's got to be paid in full.

That goes into a client's holding account for 14 days, by law.

You've got, then, 14 days to get that vehicle back

before any funds go to her, otherwise she could end up with the funds,

plus the vehicle and you've got to get the vehicle back.

But Mr Barrett says he has no money and cannot pay the debt.

If we are going to remove vehicles, we've got to take obviously

trade value of what we think it'll do at auction.

If you can borrow some money, it will be cheaper.

The owner says the cars can't be seized

because they belong to the limited company.

There's a limited company that was dormant,

it's not trading at company's house at the moment in that company.

The receipts are in Hilltop Car Shop,

so our office are right,

obviously the vehicles are right to take

and we have got the right to take them.

Eventually the garage owner is convinced there is no option

but to pay in full, and heads off to find the cash.

Half an hour later he returns,

but he's not happy to see our camera outside on the road.

-I've cleared my debt. Get the

-BLEEP

-off my site. Now!

All right...

-He's got money in his hand.

-BLEEP!

Now.

All right, I'll go. OK, calm down.

With our camera safely inside the van,

Pete counts out the money.

That's, er, £4,420, er, I need to give you some change

but I haven't got any.

We owe you 75p.

If you can just give a signature and a print there

that's your receipt to say you've paid in full.

With the debt paid in full,

the garage owner wants to put his side of the story.

We wrote to the lady a few weeks ago to offer her so much money

and to see if we could pay it back, cos it were a big amount

she wanted to claim for, which were ridiculous.

From a £1,599 car, what the lady didn't want,

has cost us £4,500 and paid her back in full

so we don't get no grief from it.

As well as we like to treat us customers properly,

but you'll always get one person

who thinks she's buying a Rolls-Royce at £1,500.

After a lot of discussion, Pete has what he came for - payment in full.

Yeah, it went well. £4,420.

Eventually he's gone away and got some money from various locations

and come up with the full amount, which has been paid in cash.

And the unhappy car owner now has the money she was due.

In Battersea, South London, in the shadow of London's heliport,

Enforcement Officers Lawrence and Kev

are still trying to get the illegally moored boat

removed from the riverbank,

where owner Nick Hale has been living rent-free

on and off for 16 years.

The boat will still be Mr Hale's home,

but it has to move so that this bit of bank can be returned

to its rightful owners today.

The boat owner and Kev are at loggerheads.

Mr Hale wants to get into his boat to retrieve some possessions,

but Kev can't let him in case he secures himself inside

and prevents them towing the boat.

But the boat owner is nothing if not tenacious.

No, I told you, you're not coming up this bit.

You can guide him from the window.

But the sheriffs have got to move fast.

We've got a very limited window of time,

with regards to the tide and towing him off.

Mr Hale doesn't care about the tides.

While Kev tries to get him his things,

Mr Hale also calls the police.

Phone, black book and a wallet.

I need the police here, I need the police here to oversee something.

With Mr Hale still on board and the police on their way,

another interested party soon hoves into view.

This is the Port of London Authority.

They've got a small vessel a few chaps have come up in.

If the sheriffs can get Mr Hale off his boat

it will be the Port of London Authority's job

to tow it to a legitimate berth.

The two parties are clearly old acquaintances.

We've told you, what you need, we can get for you.

Otherwise you're not going in there.

The police are on their way to arrest you

for obstruction of an enforcement officer...

..in the execution of a writ.

-You are, by not vacating the boat.

-These people are...

Your possessions aren't going anywhere.

There's no "But." Anything you need we'll go and get for you.

You have to abide by the laws of the land.

If he thought he had an entitlement to be here,

he should have dealt with it in a legal way

There's nothing personal between any of us.

Over an hour after arriving on the riverbank,

and with the police now on site,

Lawrence briefs them on the situation.

There was a writ of possession. That's my ID.

Mr Hale too is keen for a word with the law.

-Good morning, sir.

-Good morning. How are you doing?

-FEMALE OFFICER: Can you just give us a second.

-Just give us two minutes.

-Can I...? I called you.

-No, no, you both called us...

What we're doing, we're going to deal with this gentleman.

Go back to where you were and we'll...

But the arrival of the police has given Lawrence a golden opportunity.

LAWRENCE: Basically, I don't want him back on that boat,

so I need to stop him.

Right, you're not going back on the boat now, Mr Hale.

Right, your boat's going to be taken

to a Port of London Authority mooring, Mr Hale.

At the moment we need you off the boat so we can move it.

You're off the boat and you're not getting back on it.

Just got him some of the possessions that he wanted.

A load of paperwork, his laptop, erm, a few other bits there,

phone chargers and stuff so we'll get that, chuck it over to him.

But although Kev is trying to get Mr Hale the things he's asked for,

being denied access to his boat

has made him agitated with the Enforcement Officers.

I need my bike out of there because I go to work on my bike.

I need my tool bag.

I need all my other tools that I have to work.

No, I'm not getting your tools. Just your personal stuff.

-I've got to have my tools...

-OK, what clothes do you want?

Do you see what I mean?

I work as a maintenance... I do maintenance. So I need my tools.

This is a civil matter.

We're here purely to prevent a breach of the peace.

The guys are telling you how they're going to help you,

if you're choosing not to listen to them then that's not your problem.

Don't go that side of me.

Well, don't keep standing in front of me

when I'm trying to talk to you.

You're not standing the other side of me.

-You can talk to him from there, can't you?

-Right...

Your voice carries across that distance.

Suddenly, the boat owner spots an opportunity.

Now just wait.

FEMALE OFFICER: I tell you what? How about I get this out?

Just wait one minute.

Do you what? You are proving to be an idiot.

Don't use the stun gun on me.

And with that, the police have had enough.

What I'm trying to do, I'm trying to direct the guy around my boat.

There's no need for this.

You have pushed your luck.

Excuse me. Can you come here a minute, please?

You have pushed your luck and I'm not impressed.

With Mr Hale handcuffed by the police,

the Port of London Authority can at last prepare the boat for towing.

The Port Authority men mustn't delay

because the boat has to be afloat to be moved,

and there's only a short window either side of high tide.

Even though he'll be getting the boat back later,

Mr Hale has told Kev what he needs from inside.

The tide's just about right now, I think.

They seem to be well under way.

I reckon it will be about ten minutes before it's gone.

And with that, Mr Hale's sojourn on the Battersea riverbank

comes to a close,

as the Port of London Authority takes his boat away.

It remains Mr Hale's possession - but he'll have to moor it elsewhere.

Lawrence's final job

is to try to make sure Mr Hale and his boat aren't coming back.

This is our notices, warning him not to come back again.

You can't obviously pin them to the riverbed.

For the Port of London Authority, it's been a job well done.

It's gone very well today.

The High Court Enforcement Officers have been here,

served the writ.

The police have been involved, unfortunately,

but it's all ended well as far as we're concerned.

A good job.

We're not really interested in removing the gentleman

from his barge, just that the barge has to come away from the foreshore.

Job gone successfully, I think.

Yeah, couldn't have asked for much better than that.

There's always going to be a few complications, potentially,

but, no, it went well.

The riverbank has been returned to its rightful owners.

The boat was taken to a Port of London Authority mooring

where Mr Hale was reunited with it some hours later.

It was a tricky job, completed successfully by the sheriffs.

Today High Court Enforcement Officers Lawrence and Kev

are on their way to Oxford,

home to one of the world's finest universities.

I never wanted to go to Oxbridge,

so I had no real incentive to work hard for me A-levels,

which is why I failed them.

My problem when I was younger is I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I think I've found my niche now though.

HE LAUGHS

Oxford's and Cambridge's loss

is the hundreds of successfully paid claimants' gain.

My gain as well, I suppose.

Stuck in a van with the Grix all day.

Lawrence and Kev may not have fancy letters after their names

but when it come to executing High Court writs,

they do it with honours.

We're going to a company called Purple Spade Limited,

trading as TVR Self-Drive.

Erm, unfortunately it's not TVR sports cars,

it's just a van rental place.

But this van rental place has fallen into serious dispute

with one car repair company.

The person Lawrence and Kev are on their way to help is Don Linfoot.

He runs Oxford Vehicle Servicing in Kidlington,

a small family-run business.

Customer service is our... our main priority,

it's one of the things that we pride ourselves.

People come back year after year.

I take it personally that, you know,

I want people's vehicles to be done,

I want them to be done right and they go away happy.

It was in that spirit

that Don's garage received a broken-down minibus

from Purple Spade Ltd -

a local van rental company,

trading as TVR Self Drive.

After that he just kept using us all the time,

so we built up this bit of a relationship.

We were looking after his vehicles

for roughly about six, seven months,

and then one day, out of the blue,

we had a vehicle that was towed round to us

that had some serious problems.

Unfortunately, um, it all went downhill from there.

The vehicle in question was a Ford Transit minibus

that had been misfiring, seriously damaging vital components.

Don's mechanics replaced the visibly damaged parts

but with limited success.

After the engine started up,

we knew there was going to be some serious problems with this.

It didn't sound good, it didn't perform very well.

Purple Spade agreed to have a number of replacement parts fitted

to repair the engine.

To keep his customer happy, Don offered the owner a deal.

I would credit him for the work that we had done,

but obviously I would charge him for the replacement engine

that we were going to fit.

So that's what we did, we fitted a replacement engine

and everyone was happy.

Despite doing what he thought was a generous deal,

Don didn't receive any payment.

It left him out of pocket and increasingly frustrated

with having to chase the money.

Don decided enough was enough -

it was time to visit the director of Purple Spade Ltd, face-to-face.

Jack and myself, my son, walked into the reception

and I said to John, I said,

"We've come round to collect a cheque from yourself

"for the work we've carried out."

Erm, and that's when he came up with the excuse

that they'd had problems with the vehicle.

We'd done a little bit of research, we went to a local garage

where he has the vehicles MOT'd.

I went round there and they told me

that it'd gone through the MOT with no problems at all,

so I knew, just by looking at him,

that he was never, ever going to pay.

I was physically shaking because I thought,

"Well, you know, what have I done to deserve this?

"You're OK, but I'm still out of pocket."

I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up,

so we just turned around and walked out.

Some weeks later Don received a letter

from Purple Spade's Limited's solicitor,

saying they were disappointed that second-hand parts had been used

to repair the vehicle.

They said they specifically asked

for new parts to be used in the repair of the van.

It's a matter Don disputes.

Knowing that he'd exhausted every avenue to try to get paid,

Don took legal action against Purple Spade Ltd.

In the end I needed peace of mind myself...

have a conclusion to the whole thing.

That was when I decided to, you know, fight it out in court.

On the day of the hearing,

Purple Spade Limited didn't attend court to contest the case.

The Judge ruled in Oxford Vehicle Services' favour

awarding Don £3,106.27p.

Once the judgment was made, they were given 14 days to make payment.

Again, we never saw any payment,

so we just had to make the next step.

The next step has been to call in the sheriffs.

It's now down to Lawrence and Kev

to see if they can get Don and his garage the money he's owed.

-It's behind here.

-Is it? TVR Self-Drive. There you go.

-Hi there.

-Morning. Looking for Purple Spade Ltd.

-Yeah, that's us.

-Trading as TVR Self-Drive.

We're Enforcement Officers,

we've got a High Court writ to execute against Purple Spade Ltd.

Right. Well, the young lady's just said "Yes, that's us," so...

I'm not leaving, no.

I'm an Enforcement Officer with a High Court writ.

Our camera is told to leave the building, so films from the outside.

Not wanting to leave the sheriffs waiting,

the receptionist gets the company director on the phone.

Hello there. Who am I speaking to, please? John Collins.

You're a director of Purple Spade Ltd, aren't you?

Right, basically, we've been ordered out here today

to seize goods to the value of £4,292.39p.

Mr Collins explains that TVR is only the trading name.

Although Purple Spade Limited was registered at the premises,

it no longer exists.

It is now home to Pink Spade Limited.

I'm being told Pink Spade are here, but I've got you

as the director of Purple Spade on the phone.

Nobody from Pink Spade is making any attempt to provide any evidence

that anything here is theirs.

Lawrence wants to know exactly which company owns the assets.

He tells them he plans to carry out a diligent search of the premises.

Don't tell me what I will and won't do, sir.

I have the right to enter any premises in England and Wales

where I believe the debtor has assets.

OK, I'm going to hand you back to the young lady anyway.

The man on the phone insists TVR Self-Drive is now the trading name

of Pink Spade Limited,

not the company on Lawrence's writ which is Purple Spade Limited.

But until Mr Collins arrives with proof of who owns the vans,

Kev seizes all the vehicles with TVR Logos.

But moments later,

the boss of Purple Spade Limited arrives at speed.

I'm guessing that this is our man.

Hello there, sir, I'll just show you some ID.

As the director leads them upstairs to his office,

Lawrence has only one thing on his mind.

Can Mr Collins prove Pink Spade Limited

bought the assets from Purple Spade Limited?

Finance documents for the vehicles will be useful

because they're the most valuable assets.

Mr Collins finally shows Lawrence paperwork

proving the vans are on finance.

Lawrence knows this means he can't remove those vehicles.

He tries a different tack.

Forgetting the vehicles for the moment, what about the other stuff?

Computers, phones... Where's the paperwork for that?

We're ordered here to seize goods. If you come up with your proof

then obviously we release the seizure on them, it's as simple as that.

Mr Collins tells Lawrence the paperwork is with the solicitors.

Not getting the answers he needs, Lawrence makes a move.

I'm going to take goods into protective custody.

Mr Collins protests at having his office assets seized,

so Lawrence offers him an alternative.

If this gets paid today, we don't disperse the funds for 14 days.

So that would give you time to seek legal advice

and decide what you need to do.

The man leaves to get the paperwork from his solicitors,

which he believes will stop the sheriffs from seizing goods.

Lawrence takes the opportunity to do some more digging,

and it's not long before he strikes purple.

To Purple. Here's another one.

From Purple Spade Limited, amount due - £208.

Nah, he's had it. We've got him now.

-You reckon?

-Yep.

I told him I was going to do a diligent search, didn't I?

Ready for battle, Lawrence is armed with invoices

which he believes show Purple Spade Limited

is still trading from these premises.

Instead of bringing back evidence proving Pink Spade Limited

bought the assets from Purple Spade Limited,

Mr Collins returns with his solicitor's advice.

Pay now and use 14 days to try and prove his case.

It's taken Lawrence and Kev over three hours of digging

to get payment, but they've finally struck gold.

-There you go, there's your receipt.

-OK, bye-bye.

He claims that all the assets owned by Purple Spade

have been bought by Pink Spade.

He couldn't really evidence much of that.

You can't do any more that take full payment, so it's a pleasing result.

A good way to finish. It was long, long-winded.

Finally the sheriffs have done what no-one else could -

get Don Linfoot the money that is rightfully his.

It was a great weight lifted off me.

It was nice of the sheriffs to have done what they were supposed to do

and, you know, I owe them a great deal.

I know that they drive vans, so if they're ever passing

they can always call in and we'll have a look at it for them.

John Collins of TVR Self-Drive told us...

..in both repair costs

and through being unable to hire out the vehicle.

Dartford in Kent is the destination

for Enforcement Officers Marc Newton and Tony Smith.

While Marc negotiates the traffic on the A2,

Tony gets to grips with what ought to be a straightforward case.

We're going to Astra Site Services Limited

and the amount is £5,347.65p.

The claimant was a truck driver for Astra Site Services,

who supply hydraulic equipment

to the construction and demolition industries.

The driver complained to the company

that he was being asked to drive trucks that were overweight.

He was dismissed with five days' notice,

and took Astra Site Services to an employment tribunal.

The company disputed that the vehicle was overweight,

but the judge found he had been unfairly dismissed.

He has never received the money he's owed,

so the sheriffs are paying the company a visit.

Astra Site Services' Dartford office is a Portakabin

at the back of a yard,

belonging to a company that has nothing to do with the case.

That's it.

-Hiya, is it Astra Site Services?

-It is, yeah.

We have a High Court writ that's been issued.

I think it's an employment tribunal that wasn't paid.

Wasn't paid?

Wasn't paid, by the look of it.

The Astra Site Services staff call their head office for advice.

-Can I put you on to our head office?

-Yeah, yeah.

-The lady's name is Kim.

-Hello, Kim. Hiya.

With two sheriffs taking up office space

and showing no sign of going away, the company agrees to pay.

Are you on the faster payments system?

It's a NatWest account.

You need a reference number to attach to the payment.

It's £5,347.65p.

You're going to do that now, yeah?

Cos I've just got to wait here until it's in. No problem.

No worries. I will do. All right, lovely.

Cheers, I'll pass you back to her. Bye.

She said to tell her to make me a cup of tea.

No, I'm fine, thanks.

Although the company has agreed to pay,

the sheriffs won't leave until the money is actually in their account.

Hello, mate, it's Marc.

Can I just check and see if the money's gone in, please?

No problem. Cheers, mate. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Yeah, it's there.

We'll just do you a receipt for it.

Then we'll be out of your way.

And that completes one of the sheriffs' easier jobs.

Astra Site Services has been very helpful to Marc and Tony,

but if they had been as efficient

paying the money owed to its former employee,

they would have saved itself a visit from the sheriffs.

All right, thanks very much. Sorry to bother you.

Cheers. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

Obviously the first they realised it hadn't been paid

was when we turn up.

To be honest, they got straight on the phone from the office there

to the head office, who done the transfer straightaway,

and just explained it was an oversight. Paid it straightaway.

So it's all good.