Episode 8 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the sheriffs.

-Let's go and introduce ourselves.

-We're High Court enforcement officers.

-We're here 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 have a letter through the door or 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...

-Hello there, sir.

..at a store in Coventry, the sheriffs are attempting

to clear a big debt.

-It'd be everything out the shop.

-When sheriff Tom is confronted...

I'm not going to allow you to take this.

..and prevented from seizing goods...

It's about to get physical basically. They're stopping me doing my job.

..the law steps in. Will the sheriffs be able to do their job?

Turn around for me.

Sheriffs Lawrence and Kev are called to a well-known London pub.

It's been occupied by squatters - barricaded and booby-trapped.

I'll need a crowbar again.

Can the sheriffs get in and get the squatters out?

You've got in front. You two go to the top floor.

And when Michael Shawyer worked on a van at the family's garage

they ended up frustrated and out of pocket.

Very annoying. We're only small garage so every penny counts.

Can the sheriffs get them the money they are owed?

Do you know what? There's something so iffy with this.

It's a misty morning as enforcement officers Craig Wild

and Tom Coyle pilot their van through the early morning commuters.

We're on our way to Coventry today. It's nice and bright, as you can see.

Attention to detail is part of the sheriffs' mantra,

and that starts with preparation for the day ahead.

I've had my muesli and, at the minute, I'm into mocha.

I don't tend to do breakfast, to be fair,

cos we start, generally, that early in the morning.

Today's case involves a substantial debt they're hoping to recover

from a local convenience store.

The debt's £21,836.81.

Fingers crossed it's a shop and we can walk straight in.

The early opening of the store

is convenient for the local community and sheriffs alike.

Hello there, sir. Is a Mr Krishna Kumar available?

He's not. Could you get him on the phone for me?

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

The man behind the counter

says he's just a friend helping out the shop owner.

While he tries to get the boss on the phone, the sheriffs start

to list the extensive stock for seizing if the debt isn't paid.

There's a lot of stuff here.

Tom checks and discovers that the man being phoned by his friend

is not the debtor named on the writ.

It's that name there - Mr Krishna Kumar.

-My friend isn't him.

-That's not your friend?

His brother. This is not my friend

-Your friend is the brother of him.

-Yeah, that's the brother.

He's the brother of him. Right. I still don't know.

If the man running the business isn't the one named on the writ,

it could be a problem.

But Craig has spotted the liquor licences on display.

He's the holder of the licence but he's got a licence as well.

There seem to be two licensees -

the debtor on the writ and someone with the same surname.

Two brothers.

Do you want to try him again, sir?

Cos we're getting to a point where we might have to start carrying on.

The man's back on the phone and the news isn't good.

He says the man on the writ now has nothing to do with the business

because it has changed hands.

But the sheriffs have seen evidence to the contrary.

We've already seen his name on one of the...

He's not the licence holder here but he's the nominated adviser here.

So he's already interlinked here with the business so we need someone

to come down here and we need to

see a lot of documentation to prove otherwise.

OK, I'll see you shortly.

Yeah, he's coming down.

As they wait for the business owner, Tom searches through

the paperwork lying about but can't find what he's looking for.

It's got the store number but not the debtor's name.

-That's fine. Cheers, mate.

-Get the store number and then

we'll phone these through and see who's the store owner.

Two people have arrived.

The woman says the business used to be run by her brother-in-law -

the man on the writ - but now she and her husband run it.

The other man is here to support her.

They say the debtor now has nothing to do with the business.

At the moment, we think he may have something

to do with the business still here cos

we have noticed his name is on one of the documents up there.

The woman who says she runs the business has brought some

paperwork to prove it.

What's this you've got here?

The documents show the lease

and business rates are indeed paid by the woman.

But the owners still haven't shown Tom evidence

of who owns the stock in the shop.

I don't know what to suggest to you. Without seeing conclusive

proof, they're going to want us to remove them.

And cos it's such a large debt, without nothing being paid today,

it'd be everything out of the shop.

Shifting everything is going to be a massive task.

18-tonner?

They're going to look at removing.

While Craig gets on to the office to talk trucks, Tom tries to convince

the people who say they own the shop that it would be better to pay.

The only way to relieve the situation at the moment is

getting some payment made and then we can look at doing

a walking possession and giving you a bit of time.

Then Craig finds a crucial piece of paperwork.

-Krishna Kumar. Krishna Kumar Sivagan.

-Is our man.

-Is our man?

-Mm.

-It's on the invoices paid.

-When's that?

-Last week.

Let's have a look. Well, that changes things considerably, doesn't it?

There's invoices my colleague's just found - 4th of December -

which have been paid by Krishna Kumar, which is our defendant here.

So you're still using the defendant's name here.

All them goods are going to be removed unless money is paid.

There's no more discussing it now, it needs to be paid.

We've got proof that the goods here belong to our defendant.

The owners say they were just using an account in the defendant's name

but paid for it themselves.

But an invoice in Krishna Kumar's name,

covering a substantial chunk of the shop's stock, is enough for Tom.

Yeah, it's bang to rights, to be honest, mate. We're digging more

and more paperwork out now with our man's name all over it.

Speak to you in a bit.

Hello.

Right, that was my manager on the phone. He wants us

to start stacking everything up and getting it ready to be removed.

The owners have called in their solicitor, Mr Khan,

so Tom explains the situation.

Obviously they said he's nothing to do with this company whatsoever.

We've found evidence on the contrary, which is invoices for all the stock

in the gentleman's name, listing everything throughout the shop.

I've obviously given him

the offer of making payment today for this High Court order.

If it's not paid, we're going to be removing the stock.

-Let me speak to my client.

-By all means. By all means, sir.

-I'll talk to him.

-Yeah. OK.

With a lot of stock to get into the truck,

Tom starts stacking the alcohol for removal.

Is there any boxes out the back, Craig?

No, it's being removed

We can. It's not whether you allow us, we're here to remove it.

So we're going to need the police basically cos you're stopping us.

Craig, do you want to ring the police?

This gentleman's stopping me doing my job.

I thought you was just a friend anyway.

Just a friend but you seem a bit more involved to be this upset.

He's going to end up getting arrested cos he's going to stop me

-doing what I'm trying to do.

-If you want your client...

I'm going to need to cos otherwise I'm going to have to push past him.

No problem.

This enforcement has taken an unexpected turn.

Hello there. I need police assistance at a shop.

I'm a High Court officer executing a High Court writ.

It's about to get physical basically. They're stopping me doing my job.

With Tom physically prevented from seizing the stock,

and the police on their way, when we return to Coventry, we'll see

if the forces of law and order will allow the sheriffs to do their job.

The sheriffs enforce High Court writs.

We're High Court enforcement officers.

They also have protection under the law.

I'm not leaving, no.

I'm an enforcement officer with a High Court writ.

Stop a sheriff from doing his job,

and you've committed a criminal offence.

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

This is now a criminal offence.

The problem is, what you're doing is actually assault.

They may call the police,

who could arrest you, charge you, and take you to court...

It's an arrestable offence

if you don't adhere to the command of a High Court enforcement officer.

..leaving the sheriffs to recover the money their clients are owed.

Taking the early morning shift are enforcement officers

Marc Newton and Kev McNally.

They're in central London, going south.

As they head under the Thames, Kev gets to grips with today's case.

We're going to Charlton, Southeast London. We're looking for

Southern Engine Services Ltd and we're looking for 2,000 and a pound.

The business Marc and Kev are helping is run by David Shawyer.

Also working in the garage is his son Michael.

I help out in my dad's garage.

The business has been here for approximately 12 years.

My father's been in the motor trade industry

for about 38 to 40 years now.

We're only a little garage,

we're not backed up by a big chain or big investors.

It is literally just us,

these four walls and so our customers are our top priority.

Wickham Cars sometimes worked with other garages

when specialist work had to be done.

If an engine needed reconditioning,

they often used Southern Engine Services.

We've had a very long relationship with them.

Never had a problem in the past.

Problems started when Southern Engine Services asked Wickham Cars

to do some work on a van belonging to one of their customers.

We were contacted by Southern Engine Services, asked to remove

an engine from an Iveco Daily, which we said, "Yeah, not a problem."

The vehicle was dropped off to us

and we noticed it was the wrong engine in the vehicle.

The van that arrived was fitted with a bigger engine

than they were expecting.

It was a bigger job, and this would lead to extra time and cost.

They said, "Yeah, not a problem, carry on with it,"

so we proceeded to take the engine out.

The engine went back to Southern Engine Services to be worked on

but they had problems with it too,

finding it hard to get the correct pistons and valves.

Two months after they'd taken it out,

Wickham finally got the engine back.

But instead of finding the engine ready to install as expected,

they had to spend time reassembling it at further cost.

And that wasn't all.

Once in the van, the Southern Engine Services engine didn't run properly.

We were getting quite annoyed by this stage with Southern Engines.

We had this vehicle sat around, taking up our room.

We didn't seem to be getting very far

with phone conversations with them.

Eventually, Southern Engine Services agreed to take the van away.

We agreed a price before they left, covering our labour costs

and the work we'd put into it, they then jumped in

the vehicle and took it back to London to carry out the repair.

The job had been harder, more costly,

and taken far longer than Wickham Cars had expected.

Now they had another challenge - getting their money.

We were told, "Oh, it will be settled in a fortnight,"

so we allowed it to go a fortnight.

We did notice a payment of £500 go into our account, which was

only half of what we'd agreed.

It was very annoying because we're only a small garage so we...

Every penny counts, as they say.

After chasing Southern Engine Services for the money

and no longer receiving replies, Wickham Cars took them to court.

The judgment was in Wickham's favour.

Although Southern Engine Services didn't attend the hearing,

they challenged the judgment in writing.

Michael and his dad had to go back to court.

Finally the judge refused to set aside the judgment.

Wickham cars had won.

It was a relief when we did win the judgment, however

we were thinking that it was going to be trouble getting the money

out of Southern Engine Services.

Literally the fact that they'd fought all this way,

we could see they were going to carry on fighting.

Unfortunately, Michael's prediction came true.

They haven't received the money from Southern Engine Services

the court says is theirs.

But there is one final chance to get what they're owed.

After seeing the sheriffs on TV

and how they enforce court orders for reclaiming

people's money, we believed that they would be the best course

of action for us for getting our money back from Southern Engines.

Aiming to recover the money are Marc Newton and Kev McNally.

It looks like Southern Engine Services have tried to get

this judgment set aside and it's been refused.

The sheriffs soon locate the Southern Engine Services premises

and it looks like the mechanics are out to enjoy the sunshine.

-Southern Engine Services?

-Yes, mate.

-High Court officers.

-High Court officers?

We've got a High Court writ against Southern Engine Services.

From David Shawyer.

Yeah, you know what?

-There's something so iffy with this, it's unbelievable.

-Is there?

We haven't got any details of... Well, we've got...

We've details that say... Did you apply to have it set aside?

-Yeah.

-And that's been dismissed.

-And then I had a...

The business owners are very familiar with the case,

but tell Marc and Kev

they aren't happy with the way the court dealt with them.

He went through all the paperwork,

he went through all the e-mails, right? Nothing had come back to us.

No litigation, no paperwork, no e-mails, nothing.

So all that goes on down there

and all the decisions that are made in that courthouse...

-It's Portsmouth, isn't it?

-Yeah.

None of it, and I mean none of it, comes back here to us.

How can you have a court case that you want to defend

and you don't get a date?

The owners of the business complain

that after an initial conversation with a lady from the court,

they never received any paperwork

telling them about the date of the hearing, meaning they missed it

and lost the case.

For the sheriffs, it's of little consequence.

They're here to enforce a High Court writ

and that's what they plan to do.

It's unbelievable, it's a proper carry-on.

We're not actually here for payment. We're here to seize assets.

The only way of stopping that is by paying us, as I'm sure you're aware.

But any money we take is held for 14 days by us.

It doesn't get dispersed, it can't get dispersed.

-We legally have to hold it.

-Right.

So anything you want to do in that time,

you can take measures in that time.

The man believes he shouldn't have to pay

and wants time to speak with the court.

So he asks the sheriffs to revisit tomorrow.

But for the sheriffs, there is no tomorrow.

We can't leave, though, we can't leave.

That's fine. Have you just got something to show us that, then?

-Yeah?

-That would be great.

It's not good news. The business owner shows Marc receipts

showing that he personally owns the valuable tools and machinery.

This means Southern Engine Services owns nothing of value.

The sheriffs have nothing to seize,

and no obvious way to get Mr Shawyer his money.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, all the goods are owned by Alan.

So we'll leave him paperwork.

-He's got the paperwork, done all that.

-All good?

-Yeah.

-Cheers, mate. Bye-bye.

-Cheers, mate. Thank you.

It looks like Marc and Kev are going to have to leave empty-handed,

but Marc is not completely disheartened.

He said if he goes to court and it's found against him, he'll pay.

It turns out there is a tomorrow after all

because two weeks later, Southern Engine Services paid in full.

Well, we had some news from the sheriffs.

They've been successful in collecting our claim and our costs

and I'm happy to report that we are now better off financially

and able to buy some new equipment for our workshop.

I'd like to say, sheriffs, thank you for getting my money. Job well done.

Southern Engine Services told us...

..as the director was away.

They said they were currently in communication with the court

about the issue, and were looking

for recompense or for a new hearing...

..and the way they were treated.

They said they wished to make no further comment

until the dispute with the courts was settled.

In Coventry, the sheriffs are trying to settle a debt of over £21,000

owed by a convenience store.

But Tom has been physically prevented from removing the stock

and the police have been called.

There's about £2,000 worth of this stock in invoices

in the name of our defendant,

so that's what we're here to remove today

if they don't want to make payment. There's been a bit of an issue

with me getting stopped doing that,

-hence we called you just to obviously stop a breach of the peace.

-OK.

But the owner's solicitor has been looking at the sheriffs' writ,

and he's spotted a problem.

We've got a sealed copy in the office.

I'll speak to the office for you now.

It's not a defective notice.

Bear with me.

Tom asks the office to send over a copy of the original sealed, dated writ.

Meanwhile, the shop has found evidence some goods were paid for

by the new owners. It means not everything can be seized,

and Tom is stacking the stock the sheriffs can take away.

Plenty Weetabix there. It's going to be all the cereals, more or less,

on this list, so it will be more or less... Well, it's all this aisle,

more or less the next, what I can see, most of the bars down here.

It's quite a lot of stock, actually, when you work it out.

Another copy of the High Court writ has been e-mailed over.

But it's still not right.

That's what's been sent to me. There's the high court claim number.

It will be sealed, sir.

You're trying to tell me I've gone to the effort of making that up myself?

Can you honestly say that?

Our office will have the sealed copy.

I'll ring them up again.

Ten minutes later, the sealed writ appears.

He's happy with that. One second, I'll put him on.

And the enforcement is back on.

Tom needs to seize more high-value goods

to have any chance of clearing the debt.

Next on his list are the cigarettes,

but the man supporting the new shop owner has other ideas.

Excuse me, don't start obstructing me. Come on.

No, the cigarettes are going.

Let me have a word with him. Out of the way, Tom.

Come here, my friend. I want to talk to you.

The police have seen enough.

-Outside.

-Outside, sir.

You're under arrest.

You don't have to say anything, but it may harm your defence

if you do not mention when questioned something you rely on in court.

-Anything you do say may be given in evidence. All right?

-OK.

You are under arrest for obstructing an enforcement officer

in the execution of their duty. Do you understand?

-OK.

-Turn around for me.

This is not how the sheriffs wanted it to go,

but being an enforcement officer gives them powers and protection

under the law, and that's why the man has been arrested.

Obstructing the enforcement officers at the moment

and to prevent breach of the peace.

He'll be taken to the police station. It will be investigated.

It won't be me making the decision on what the outcome will be.

It will be the custody sergeant or the Crown Prosecution Service.

Back in the shop, the turn of events

has visibly upset the woman who runs the business.

She starts phoning round to try to raise some money.

Knowing they are unlikely to get a full payment today,

the sheriffs are prepared to take a part payment

and seize goods on paper until a payment plan is put in place.

It needs to be about 3,500 minimum.

3,500.

The solicitor, Mr Khan, has taken over negotiations

with the person on the phone.

It has to be 3,500.

We can't, sir. We've been nearly four hours.

We can't do that, sir.

Because time's money, you see.

It is a bit edgy. It's difficult to get all the documents, paperwork,

to the High Court enforcement officers,

but if they are given more time

perhaps they can take a more balanced approach.

So I think my client has taken the right step

to make some payment on account, and thereafter

to provide all the paperwork and documents to the enforcement officers

and they will obviously take it from there.

The owner's relative, who tried to prevent the sheriffs doing their job, is taken away by police.

Meanwhile, Craig is beginning to believe the case will soon be over.

Bringing my trusty friend with me,

so hopefully the payment will be made.

The shop owner is waiting

for someone to pay money into her account.

She signs a walking possession, which leaves the stock in the shop

but hands ownership to the court

until she either proves it belongs to her,

or the debtor agrees to pay the remainder of the debt.

Right. Just wait for this payment. Once the payment's received,

I'll give you copies of all your paperwork.

Finally, the money arrives and the shop owner pays.

Enter your pin and press the green button, please.

-Approved.

-Boom.

The money will be held by the sheriffs,

giving her chance to prove she owns the stock.

As the sheriffs and remaining police head off,

the owner's solicitor wants to put his client's side of the case.

We are taking the matter further. There are many issues in this case.

Should they pay the money or not,

the inconvenience, damage to the business, the distress caused.

There's a lot of issues that need to be taken into account also.

The aftermath of this event, they've paid £3,500

so we'd obviously get all the evidence and proof to show that

they are the people who are lawful owners

and that all the goods belong to them and not the previous account holder.

We need to get more evidence and more proof,

provide that to the High Court enforcement officers

for them to look at and obviously make their decision.

The sheriffs have secured part of the payment,

and expect the rest to follow.

It was quite a good result, apart from one gentleman had to be removed

by the police, and actually arrested, which we never want to see happen

but he was stopping me doing my job,

he wouldn't allow me to carry on with the seizure, going behind,

physically stopping me, so the officer intervened

and had to arrest him in the end.

Since we filmed, the Crown Prosecution Service decided

not to bring a prosecution against the man arrested by the police.

The Earlsdon convenience store told us the recent invoice

found in the previous store owner's name was a mistake

caused by a wholesaler issuing it in the wrong account name.

They stress the current business owner's reticence to pay the debt...

With dawn just around the corner,

sheriffs Lawrence Grix and Kev McNally are in West London.

But this morning, they're not looking for a debtor.

Instead, they've got a writ of possession

to evict a group of squatters.

It's just after 5 o'clock at the moment

and we're on our way to a repossession in London.

It's a pub we've done before, the Cross Keys.

We took possession of it for the client about a year ago.

There's now squatters in there again.

We've been told there's between five and ten people.

A year ago, Lawrence and Kev visited the same pub

after it was occupied by squatters,

having become vacant while the owner sought to develop it.

Enforcement officers!

The sheriffs forced entry, and were lucky enough to avoid

a booby trap left for them at the door.

They managed to evict the squatters

and return the pub to its rightful owner.

-Thanks a lot.

-Thank you very much.

-You know where we are if you need us again.

-Sure.

Come on, chaps. Let's go and find a caff.

But the development process has again become drawn out,

leaving the building empty,

and now a new bunch of squatters has moved in.

So it's Lawrence and Kev's job,

along with some colleagues and a team supplied by the owner,

to get the new squatters out.

The sheriffs are keen to make entry

before the sleeping squatters realise what's happening.

There's no sign of any movement in there at the moment.

There's a dim light on on the first floor.

Doesn't appear to be anything on the ground floor

but it's boarded up, so you can't really see anyway.

They've gained entry through the rear, we believe.

We'll be going in through the front.

If they want to run out the rear as we go in the front,

you know, that's entirely up to them, and suits us.

It's time to go in.

Normally, the sheriffs bring in their own experts to do this.

The men supplied by the client are making a lot of noise.

DOOR CREAKS AND THUDS

They're awake.

It's hard not to be, innit, really?

The door's open, but they can't get in.

The entrance is barricaded.

Until the gear's out, the sheriffs won't be going in.

James, take it easy.

That stuff's got to come out.

Come on, you lot! Start moving some of this stuff.

We're doing your job for you. You're supposed to be getting us in.

Bring everything out.

The sheriffs have a dilemma - they need to get in quickly

to stop the squatters barricading any more doors.

But having experienced the booby trap last time,

Lawrence doesn't want his men taking unnecessary risks.

James, careful.

The booby trap is back in place.

With the barricade cleared, there's a second door.

Right, we need a crowbar again.

Right, that's the ground floor.

You don't want to go that way. Up the stairs.

Right, enforcement officers, if you hadn't already realised. Yeah.

We've got a writ of possession. You all need to leave.

We'll give you a bit of time to get your stuff together, OK?

How many of you in here?

-About 20.

-About 20? OK.

It's a lot of bodies to shift, along with all their stuff.

Some things haven't changed since the last raid.

Surprised the TV's still in here.

They were watching that last time we were in

and a year later, I'm very surprised to still see a big TV still in here.

It's quite a bit grubbier.

At least some of the squatters realise the game is up,

take advantage of the newly opened door, and leave.

Yeah.

Got an easy way out.

You don't have to risk life and limb on the roof this morning.

The squatters' normal route in and out is perilous,

but has to be checked and shut off.

This is the door they were using

and there's a ladder down there I believe they were using

to drop down to the ground floor,

then climb up the ladder and come in this window.

It was open when I came up here.

He's just been checking all around the roof

just to make sure there's nobody out here,

so then we can secure it

and we're safe to say to the client that there's nobody on the roof,

so we just have to check everywhere.

Although some of the squatters are now out, many of those remaining

have been here a while and have a lot of stuff.

You've said you've got too much stuff to carry, which is fair comment,

so take it out and come back in for the rest, yeah?

We'll leave you a bit longer on this floor to get what you've got here.

The procedure now is to empty and check off each area of the pub,

and make sure no-one gets back in.

-All out now, Law?

-Yeah, everybody's out of there.

Roof's clear.

-Did you know that Bob Marley used to drink here?

-Yeah, he did.

-Wow.

One of the squatters has a go at disrupting filming.

Does that look cool?

-Did you want your step machine, whoever it was?

-Yeah!

Just found it in the bar.

Thank you.

It looks like the squatters are all out.

But the sheriffs know only too well that just one person left behind

can let the rest back in.

So every nook and cranny is checked, though Lawrence leaves the attic

to the younger members of the team.

Make sure you walk on the rafters.

The ones that are here today, there are about 20 of them.

They weren't too bad.

You've got the odd one being a bit gobby

and trying to provoke a reaction but generally speaking,

they're outside whinging about that but they've not been too bad at all.

We're all sort of done here. All the squatters are out.

About 20 of them in total, they've been loitering round here

for a little bit, so let them carry on with that.

It's been a fairly smooth operation for the sheriffs.

For the second time in just over a year,

the Cross Keys pub has been cleared of squatters.

It's a mess but not that badly damaged.

Thank you, Richard. See you later.

It's been handed back to the rightful owner,

who can finally develop the building.

On the road and heading for Norfolk this afternoon

are enforcement officers Darryl Oreton and Marc Povey.

They're heading to one of Britain's leading small hi-tech sports-car manufacturers.

We're in Swaffham now,

going to a company called Trident Vehicles Group Ltd.

So we're looking at just under £6,500 we're there to collect today.

Trident Vehicles Group sold a motorhome on behalf of a lady who had no use for it,

as her husband, who used it for a catering business, had sadly died.

The motorhome was successfully sold,

but the woman in question was never paid a £5,000 non-refundable deposit

she says a buyer had put down to purchase it.

The case went to court, but despite turning up to one of the hearings,

Trident never put forward a defence

and a judgment was issued in the woman's favour.

Despite this, the £5,000 is still outstanding.

So now it's Darryl and Marc's job to get it paid.

Arriving at Trident Vehicles Group headquarters,

it's not long before they get chatting to one of the company directors.

We've got a High Court writ to execute against yourselves.

-It's quite an old case going back here to 2011.

-Right.

She's upgraded it now to the High Court so they've sent us out

to get the full payment, which is just under 6,500,

or to seize assets to the value of that debt.

It's kind of come out of the blue, this. Yeah.

-Take a seat a minute.

-Yeah?

-I'll see if there's something here.

-OK.

More than a little surprised to see

two High Court enforcement officers on his premises,

Dan turns to his fellow director for help.

The new man doesn't want to be on camera,

but is happy for us to hear his side of the story.

He says they kept the outstanding £5,000 to cover additional work

they'd had to carry out on the motorhome to make it sellable.

He also says he didn't know about the second court hearing.

For whatever reason, she's put the case through High Court.

But Darryl doesn't need to worry about the whys and wherefores.

He's got a High Court writ and needs to collect it in full today.

Because we've got a live writ,

we're actually commanded by the High Courts to seize goods today,

effectively putting you out of business.

The director asks for more time to raise the £6,000,

but the sheriffs need to settle this today.

He asks if they will accept a smaller down payment.

You're probably going to be looking at about 50%.

The director thinks they could manage 30%, about £2,000.

Marc gets on to the office to see if they can strike a deal.

They're not disputing the debt. They just said they're going to need seven days to pay it.

See if they can raise 40 to 50% of it.

2,500.

And then seven days for the remainder. Cheers, mate. Ta.

Marc heads back inside to pitch the new offer.

He also gets listing assets which he can seize

and potentially remove to sell if the debt's not paid.

The company asks our camera to leave.

The director takes a moment to weigh up his options.

Faced with losing hi-tech equipment,

he agrees to a £2,000 part payment today, with the rest to follow.

And with the money in the bank, it's job done for Darryl and Marc.

We could've gone in there heavier

but there's three different companies trading from that same address

so it would've been a case of ascertaining who owned what.

It just would've been a bit messy.

They were fairly co-operative although they didn't think they owed the money.

It had been going on for a few years.

But they were happy to pay us £2,000 now.

They're going to pay another 500 on Monday,

and then the remainder of the balance seven days from then.

It's been a successful trip,

with a substantial chunk of the debt paid and the rest to follow.

It means the woman whose motorhome it was, finally getting the money she was owed.

Trident Vehicles Group told us

they had agreed to help the claimant...

..including an advance deposit.

The other vehicle was returned unsold.

They said the claimant then claimed further payments through the courts,

leading to the judgment which they applied to have set aside.

They said they heard nothing more

until the visit of the sheriffs some 18 months later.

They said...

Enforcement officers Lawrence and Kev are heading into the aftermath

of a building job that went very wrong indeed.

We are heading to High Wycombe looking for a Mr Schreiber.

The amount we're looking for is £11,649.

Ta-da.

That's who we're looking for.

In 2009, the man in the picture, Kevin Schreiber, built an extension

for a local couple.

When the main build was done, the couple still had a number of problems,

including a leaking roof, leaking bathroom, and a badly done terrace.

Mr Schreiber didn't put them right.

The couple say it was very stressful,

and they spent £10,000 with other builders to correct the faults.

Now they've been to court to get the money from Kevin Schreiber.

So far, he hasn't paid,

so Lawrence and Kev are going to his house

to get the couple their money.

Mr Schreiber is not at home,

and neither is his wife, though she is soon on the phone.

Hello there. Are you able to get Mr Schreiber on the phone?

She says she's coming back to the house,

and will then call her husband.

All right, no problem. I'll hand the phone back to your friend.

Cheers, bye-bye.

Mrs Schreiber arrives home

and is joined by a relative, but they do not want to be on camera.

Lawrence can't give out details because they're not named on the writ.

But Mr Schreiber is soon on the phone.

We're enforcement officers. We've got a High Court writ to execute against you.

They've chosen to transfer it up to the High Court for enforcement purposes.

You don't, sir. You've got a County Court judgment against you

and you don't get any notification that it's going to be enforced.

We're ordered here to seize goods today to the value of £11,649.11.

Once you've got a County Court judgment against you, you were obliged to pay it.

End of story.

Mr Schreiber thought the story had a way to go.

He says he has made an appeal.

You've made various appeals which have all been thrown out.

I've got copies of all the court orders with me.

So, there's... So, there's nowhere to go with it.

He then reveals that he had been planning to settle the debt.

He's been saving up and has more than half the money.

You say you've got - was it 6,000 or 7,000?

Erm...

That would probably do for today, to be fair.

And what I would suggest you do is put in a payment proposal to pay the balance off.

Yep, OK, no worries.

See you shortly.

Mr Schreiber is on his way with the money.

While they wait, Mrs Schreiber explains to Lawrence and Kev

that originally THEY took the couple who they did the work for to court

for not paying in full.

But their case failed and the couple mounted a counter-claim

for the faults, which is the debt Kevin has been saving to pay off.

Kevin Schreiber has slipped into the house through the back door.

Before he talks to the sheriffs, he wants a family conference.

Can you just go and see if you can find the reg of his van, mate?

It's a red van, innit? So it'll be round that way somewhere.

The Schreibers want to check where they stand.

We're going to leave today, yeah.

Satisfied their plan will rid them of the sheriffs today,

they invite Lawrence and Kev in.

As promised, he's come with cash.

-So, we've got seven, yeah?

-Fair play to you.

There's not a lot of people would have any money at all.

But with the end in sight, there's a problem.

This is £100 light. It's from seven.

-What've we got there? 6,900?

-Yeah.

-I'm not going to quibble over £100.

Keep your bit of money by you.

The £6,900 that's been paid is well over half of the £11,000 debt.

Mr Schreiber now has to submit a plan for paying off the rest.

Come and sign your receipt, Mr Schreiber.

OK, so I've got that you've paid your 6,900, leaves you 4,749.11.

That's yours.

Mr Schreiber had been saving to pay off the debt,

so Lawrence trusts he'll pay off the rest.

With part of his debt paid off,

now Mr Schreiber wants to put his side of the story.

It was very good quality work. I mean, I never...

Through every step of the build,

from fittings all the way up to the finish,

there was never a problem with any of the work that I'd done,

and if there was something they didn't like,

we changed it there and then.

They themselves said the work was fantastic.

Mr Schreiber says he will pursue his appeal.

But so far the courts have found in favour of the couple he did the work for.

-Right, we'll leave you in peace but as I say, just submit your proposal.

-Bye-bye.

Mr Schreiber and the sheriffs part on good terms.

So, there's £6,900 there, which we've got here.

Their side of the story was fair enough.

They had intention from the start to settle the debt.

They were in the process of saving the money and paying it off.

The gentleman's going to write in a proposal to the office,

and really we've got no option other than to recommend

that the client accepts it because there's just no goods worth removing.

Whatever happens in the next stage of the legal process,

a large cash payment has been made,

and now there's every chance the couple who had the work done

will be paid in full.

It's been a good, if tiring, day for the sheriffs.