Episode 3 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the sheriffs...

-Let's introduce ourselves.

Got a High Court writ to attend here today.

If it's not payable, I'll be removing the stock.

Their job is to get you your money back.

-It's about to get physical.

-It's an arrestable offence

to stop me doing my job.

If you've been ripped off and don't know where to turn...

-We need to deal with it now.

-We're going to remove vehicles

-to that value.

-If you're acting on his authority, pay it.

If you've been to court and still not been paid what you're owed...

Are you going to open this building, sir? Or am I going to force entry into it?

-You need to pay this.

-..it's time to call the sheriffs.

-Don't put your hands on me.

-I'm going to call the locksmith,

effect entry into the premises and remove all the items.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

-They're enforcement agents of the High Court

and the law says - "They're on your side."

Just collected 42 grand.

Coming up...

This man thought his new car would be

a reliable family runabout - but it let him down.

When you're driving a car, you know, you want it to work.

Sheriff Chris Pearson has the job of getting him his money back.

-BLEEP

-I'm not going nowhere... You do what you need to do, son.

Simple as that, we're not going nowhere.

I'll give him till 5.45. If he hasn't got the money sorted by then,

I'll clamp a car and get a truck.

Sheriffs in London clear out a squat for a second time.

Wakey-wakey.

But one man isn't leaving without a fight -

and it's some of the worst abuse the sheriffs have ever encountered.

SIREN WAILS

And Sheriff Craig Wilde needs to be quick,

if he wants to take control of a valuable BMW.

We've got a vehicle that needs recovering.

Worst-case scenario is he suddenly turns up and it all kicks off.

Sheriffs Lawrence Grix and Kev McNally have an early start

in Lewisham today - and it's a bit of a Groundhog Day moment.

They're removing squatters from a pub they've visited before.

We're back in Lewisham.

It's just about six o'clock.

We've got a writ of possession for the former Market Tavern pub.

We've done it once already...

I doubt it will be the same people again.

But you can never tell.

After their last visit, the sheriffs will be hoping that at least

one of the previous squatters is not back in the building.

Last time round, this man reacted badly to proceedings...

-Keys!

-What are you doing?

-My keys.

-Get out of my face.

-My keys!

-Get out of my face.

-No, no!

-Get out my face.

-No.

-Right, you're going.

-UPROAR

-What you doing, man? What you doing?

UPROAR

In the end, he had to be carried out of the building.

Afterwards, the pub was made secure, but someone has found a way back in.

Kev's not surprised.

This does happen - not that frequently, but it does happen

if properties are left empty. Squatters find them again

and they're in again.

The security boarding and doors and shuttering we've had put on before

seems to be still in place,

so we're going to go round the front entrance,

which is where we think they're using.

Enforcement agent Mark was one of the team

who reclaimed the pub last time.

He has some instructions for his colleagues.

The door on the left seems...pretty loose.

But if not, we're going to struggle to get in there,

we're just going to smash the window,

somebody get in, and open it up that way. As long as they can't

get out onto the roof, that's the main issue.

-Everybody good?

-ALL: Yeah.

It's time to call time on the squatters.

The crowbars make short work of the door.

Enforcement officers!

The plan now is to wake everyone up...

Wakey-wakey!

..if they can actually find anyone.

So, they've not gone long...

Halogen heater is still running

but the place appears to be empty.

Lawrence checks in with the other agents.

No, we ain't got anybody. You?

The enforcement agents confirm that elsewhere in the building,

a group of squatters have been found and are packing up.

But Lawrence is following his nose.

Quite a strong smell of skunk, isn't there?

Phwoar, the bed's still here.

Has that camera got smellyvision on it, has it?

The sheriffs remember this room from before.

Double bed made on top of a couple of toilets.

Whoo!

Disgusting.

They were sleeping on that last time.

They've broken that one off the wall, and it honks.

MAN RETCHES It's much, much worse than it was last time. Much worse.

The interior of the building has taken a beating.

Squelchy, squelchy.

Some of the damage and rubbish remains from the first set of squatters.

Now, the best thing for this former pub is to gut it.

Elsewhere, the squatters seem to be complying with instructions

to pack up and leave.

About six left in here at the moment, so just...

They're all getting their stuff together.

No dramas at the moment. Let them get their stuff together, get them out.

Although they have a writ of possession for the building,

the sheriffs allow the squatters time to gather belongings

like heaters and bedding.

A little bit of time to get their stuff together

and they're starting to take it out now.

We generally allow them a bit of time,

cos then there's no need for them to break back in.

They'll even help them carry things -

to speed up the process.

This time, it seems the job will get done without a confrontation...

until this man decides to hit the camera.

Who d'you think you are, man?

And once wasn't enough...

On his way out, he decides to do it again.

Oi! Behave yourself. This one doesn't come back in again.

Lawrence doesn't want him back inside.

But he's about to become a dangerous problem for the team outside.

He's confronting the agents and is ready to fight.

He's using abusive language.

Calm down.

-All three of you.

-BLEEP

The man is offering to fight the enforcement agent.

BLEEP

And he's about to be racially abusive.

BLEEP

-Go back to where you belong, you

-BLEEP

He's even threatening the cameraman.

BLEEP

Enforcement agents are used to confrontation,

but the racist language has surprised even them.

But the man isn't finished yet.

-I might be a racist but at least I've got morals, you

-BLEEP

-BLEEP

-..scum.

Lawrence has seen enough, and is calling the police.

We've got one who's kicking off, he's...

The postcode is...

Sierra, echo, one, three.

Six, alpha, alpha.

Before the police can arrive, the man is being held.

Thankfully, the agents are trained in safe restraining techniques.

This guy's got abusive,

he's racially abusing one of our officers here.

Abusing everyone, so we're not having that.

Police are called and will be on their way.

Just hold him till the police get here.

I'm sure they'll be interested to see how he behaves -

can't do that.

It's outrageous.

I didn't see that.

The police arrive quickly.

This wasn't how the sheriffs thought

this writ of possession would turn out.

SIREN WAILS

Now he's been restrained,

the man has finally stopped the tirade of abuse.

If he lets go...

-I'm not going to do nothing, no.

-All right, OK.

Going to let him go, lads?

Come and have a chat with me over here.

Now the man has attracted police attention,

and that's going to prove a big mistake.

The enforcement agent he racially abused doesn't want to press charges,

but the police are checking the man's records.

Yeah, he has a whole array of...abuse.

Wants locking up.

-Eh?

-He wants locking up.

Yeah, scumbag.

Lawrence might get his wish -

a police search has discovered this man is

wanted for non-payment of fines.

Right, so, because of that,

you are going to get arrested, all right?

SHE READS HIM HIS RIGHTS

..may be given in evidence. Do you understand that, yeah?

Quick search for anything that is going to hurt you or me.

With him out of the way,

the sheriffs can complete their writ of possession.

For the time being, he will be staying in police custody.

The sheriffs have had confrontations here twice,

so Kev is hoping the building will be kept secure

and they won't be called back again.

Everyone's out now.

The property is empty,

they are going to put security on here for the next few days.

And I think they're going to put

someone in here, living in here permanently,

just to keep it vacated.

It's been a trying morning for the sheriffs, but the whole team

are happy to be on their way for a well-earned breakfast.

Today, Sheriff Chris Pearson is on the road

and chasing a debt in West Yorkshire.

Off to a residential address just outside of Bradford.

Looking for a Shiraz Miah, trading as KM,

which, I believe, is...

..some sort of car business.

He owes money - £1,856.02p to a Sheraz Afzal.

Chris's claimant is hoping the sheriffs will have more luck

than he had.

Sheraz Afzal lives in Nottingham with his wife and two children.

Several years ago, he and his wife saw an Audi A4 car

advertised on the internet, and thought it was just what

they wanted - so they bought it.

When I first saw the car, it was up for just under £7,500, so...

it was in pretty good nick.

We chose an Audi because we'd had one before. It had served us well.

Sheraz bought the car from a dealer called Mr Miah,

who was based in Keighley, Yorkshire.

Well, he was a lovely chap, he told me all about himself,

you know, seemed really personable,

made me tea and brought me biscuits.

Shortly after buying the car,

Sheraz noticed the oil light was frequently coming on.

He put new oil in, but after a short while the light would come on again.

A month later, Sheraz was at work

when his pregnant wife, Sally, rang to say the car had broken down.

He wasn't at his desk to take the call.

I had about 15-20 missed calls from my wife,

that clearly sent a...you know, a fair amount of panic through,

you know, and then I tried to listen to the answerphones

and the text messages, trying to work out what's happened.

The car had broken down,

so she'd ended up abandoning the car in town,

and getting a taxi back with the kid.

So it was all...

Yeah, a pretty stressful evening, actually.

Sheraz arranged a roadside repair.

The recovery men told him that whatever caused the breakdown

was probably connected to the car's oil problem.

When you're driving a car, you want it to work,

you don't want to be sat there going,

"Is it going to conk out? Is it going to conk out?"

My wife said, "We've got to do something about this.

"I can't have this car."

Sheraz worried about the risk of more breakdowns with his family

in the car, so he part-exchanged the Audi at another dealer.

He made a £1,000 loss on the deal.

So I then decided,

"Well, hey, that's not fair," you know.

Sheraz went to court to recover the money he'd lost by reselling the car.

He was awarded the judgment after his first hearing,

but then the dealer, Mr Miah, appealed.

It meant a nerve-racking second day in court for Sheraz.

We were there for about an hour, um,

we gave two quite different versions of events

over the course of that hour, um...

The judge preferred my version, but I remember,

actually, my heart kind of pounding as the judge was about to deliver

his judgment, which was, um, yeah, a strange kind of adrenaline high.

The judge ruled in Sheraz's favour, and car dealer Mr Miah

started paying off the debt at £50 a month.

But he only made a few payments and then stopped.

So Sheraz decided to take decisive action to get paid.

This has been going on, now, for almost two years,

I've had three cheques off him, you know, a random payment off him last week...

So, I guess I just want this to...

be finished.

I'm...I'm bored and I want to get on with the rest of my life.

The most recent cheque was for £500,

but Sheraz feels he just doesn't know if more cheques will be sent.

He wants the sheriffs to recover all the money -

as, including costs, there's now a lot owing.

Over in West Yorkshire,

Chris Pearson is about to make contact with the debtor -

and there's a large collection of vehicles on his drive.

Take your pick out of this lot, basically.

The debtor's not home...but he's on the other end of the phone.

Hello? Hi, Mr Miah?

The dealer is telling Chris that he's already

entered into an agreement to pay monthly.

But Chris is confident that claimant Sheraz has not accepted it,

and a High Court writ for payment has been issued.

He'll be here within ten minutes.

Excellent. Cheers.

Whilst Chris waits,

he takes a look at the potential assets parked on the drive.

There's two Audis there.

The debt's not that large, to be honest,

so that would probably cover it - the 08 Audi.

Now the debtor himself is here.

-How are you, mate?

-Good, how are you?

-Yeah, not so bad, mate. Not so bad.

Have you got any confirmation of the fact that there's an arrangement been set up?

I haven't got my confirmation, but I've sent him the cheque already, in the post.

At this point, our camera is asked to move off the driveway.

But having a sheriff on his doorstep has convinced Mr Miah

that he'll have to try and raise the money today.

It's now dark outside, and Chris is settling in for a wait to get paid.

He's ringing around trying to get the funds together,

he says he's going to struggle...

to organise it, but in the same breath he's telling me

he's got all the cars on the drive, which are worth a fortune.

And he lives in a £1 million house,

and they own all this land round here. So if that's the case,

I'm sure he will be able to lay his hands on £1,800.

Time for a little gallows humour.

Might be a premonition this...

HE CHUCKLES ..what's going to happen.

RADIO PLAYS

# I shot the sheriff

# But I didn't shoot the deputy... #

Now the debtor has returned with news about the outstanding balance.

You've done well so far, you need to keep going, mate.

It's the full amount you need to pay.

It's nothing personal, it's just got to be the full amount.

At this stage you need to pay it in full. It's non-negotiable.

If that's what we need to do, we need to satisfy the full debt tonight.

Whatever's left.

The idea that one of his vehicles might be taken

seems to have disturbed car dealer Mr Miah.

Chris might need to turn on the charm.

We'd get in, mate.

-How would you not let us in?

-Say again.

How would you not let us in?

We'd remove it, take the car away.

We get a tow truck to remove it.

Police will turn up and all the vehicles will be removed.

It's that easy, mate, it is. I don't want to do it,

I'm sure you don't want to do it. Just have a ring around,

and come back and see us, soon as you can.

It's all right, no problem.

Despite the ongoing banter, there's still no money.

What sheriff Chris needs to see is the payment.

Me patience is running a little thin,

with him, to be honest.

He seems like a nice enough guy,

but I've seen it a thousand times, he's just...he's tying it on.

I'm going to give him till 5.45.

If he hasn't got the money sorted by then,

I'm just going to clamp a car and get a truck. To be honest,

a man of the means which he claims to be,

he really should be able to organise these funds.

The money still hasn't arrived - but more people have.

There's been three...extra cars gone down since we've been here,

so, I dare say, amongst them, they'll have the money, won't they?

Time's up...

But before he can walk down the drive,

an unidentified man wants Chris to leave.

This is not private, is it?

This is not private, is it?

-He's not

-BLEEP

-at all.

I'm not going nowhere.

You do what you need to do, son. Simple as that. We're not going...

I tell you what...

What's it got to do with you? Who are you?

Who are you?

Who are you? Who are you?

Nothing to do with you.

No, nothing to do with you.

That's all I'm saying to you.

You do what you need to do.

The angry man is heading towards the debtor's property,

so Chris decides to wait.

Now the angry man has come to take a photo.

So someone did shoot the sheriff...

Weird.

Chris heads back up the driveway to clamp a car.

But there's an update.

It seems his presence

and the thought of losing a vehicle or two has motivated the debtor.

Mr Miah claimed he couldn't get his hands on the full amount,

so he phoned claimant Sheraz and offered to enter a formal financial agreement

of £500 a month, to clear the debt.

Sheraz would have preferred the lump sum Chris was chasing -

but he has decided to be reasonable

and let Mr Miah repay the debt in sizeable instalments.

Off camera, Chris has made the necessary arrangements.

We've taken control of goods and the debtor's signed...

signed for the goods. And the claimant's arranged,

well, agreed £500 a month. At the end of the day

it's a semi-result, I suppose - it's now officially arranged,

£500 a month, so four months it's going to be cleared off - going to be job done.

Getting an official agreement to pay what's owed to him

is what Sheraz wanted.

If he pays me - great, it's finished. If he doesn't pay me,

you know, they can go round and...

..um, get me the rest of the money.

So it's nice to have closure.

On a bright, cold, crisp, winter morning,

Sheriffs Kev and Lawrence are negotiating the streets

of London again, on their way to one of the city's iconic markets.

We are on our way to One Of A Kind.

I believe it's a vintage-clothing shop.

It's actually on Portobello Road, famous for its market.

We are looking for £6,251.

The shop specialises in designer vintage clothing.

The debt the sheriffs are chasing today

is on behalf of a supplier who's based abroad.

It's a European money order.

There's been a European judgment, there's an order to pay money,

and they've sought permission to have it enforced in this country.

If the shop's unwilling to pay, sheriffs Lawrence and Kev

can remove goods, to auction to settle the debt.

And they've made sure they've done their homework.

Lawrence has been online and they've got a vast selection of...

vintage designer clothing, I believe.

Clothes, handbags, accessories, belts.

Quite a small frontage to the shop, but it just...

they've got an immense amount of stock in there.

There it is.

Portobello Market's in full swing,

but Lawrence and Kev aren't here to shop.

Can they get their disgruntled client the money they're owed?

-Hello, mate. How are you doing?

-Yeah, good, how are you?

Good, thank you.

My name's Mr Grix. My colleague and I are enforcement agents.

We're here with a High Court writ to execute against One Of A Kind.

While Lawrence and Kev's credentials are enough to get the ball rolling,

we're asked to leave.

The discussions continue inside.

Minutes later, Kev emerges to update us.

The owner's a guy called Jeff.

Told him what it's about, he's going to get him on the phone,

come down here and sort it out,

but he's not aware of who our claimant is at the moment.

Kev heads back in to support his partner, Lawrence.

Soon after, owner Jeff arrives and the negotiations continue.

We've been speaking to the owner in there. He's OK.

Er, he knows all about the debt,

he didn't realise it had gone this far, to be honest.

But he knows the lady who he owes the money to,

he apparently has every intention of paying,

he didn't realise it had got to this stage, which it has.

So, he claims he hasn't got any money.

While Lawrence has been doing the talking,

Kev's been keeping his eye on the stock.

Been upstairs, there's two rooms at the back, they're all empty,

there's nothing in them at all. There's probably, 200-odd shoes...

..so there is literally what there is in the front, which is still...

to itemise it, there's a lot of stuff.

Some expensive pieces, but retail money,

we'd have to take virtually the whole shop

to cover anywhere near the debt we're looking at.

And in case negotiations stall, Kev's worked out a plan.

One of the options was to maybe put some padlocks on it,

shut it up and have an on-site auction.

But we didn't really want to go down that route at the moment.

Luckily, there was no need for that.

Because minutes later, Lawrence and Kev emerge with a result.

Of sorts.

Basically there's lots, lots and lots of items in there,

he's got sales where people have put deposits on items

and he'll be able to clear the debt next Wednesday,

so I've been very kind and given him till next Friday,

taken £450 today, which was literally all he had in his bank account.

I've made him aware of what my intentions will be

if he doesn't pay in full and I'm quite content he's going to...

Oh, here we go, shouldn't say it really! Um...

if he pays, he pays, if he doesn't, we'll be back, put it that way.

Lawrence's confidence was not misplaced.

The shop later paid the debt in full.

The sheriffs are enforcement agents of the High Court.

Got a High Court writ to attend here today.

If you've been awarded money by a court but haven't been paid,

the sheriffs can enforce a writ and get you what you're owed.

I'm here with a court order to collect the sum of £34,311.

Once inside commercial premises, they don't have to leave.

-Just stay outside.

-No.

And they don't give up easily.

You can't tell us things, you need to prove things.

The onus isn't on us to prove anything at all.

If the debtor won't pay, they have the power to remove goods

and have them sold at auction to pay off the debt.

I'm going to start taking control of all your vehicles outside.

When the sheriffs do remove goods, the law says you can't stop them.

-It's been removed.

-No, you can't...

-We can.

A High Court writ costs £60.

If the sheriffs are successful, there's nothing more to pay.

All cleared up, paid in full.

If they're unsuccessful, the only cost is the compliance fee

of £75 plus VAT for each enforcement.

One of the most powerful weapons the sheriffs have in their armoury

is the threat that if a debt's not paid,

they'll remove goods to pay it off.

But it's very much a last resort

used in less than 1% of cases.

Today, Sheriff Craig Wild is heading to Wolverhampton.

He knows, if push comes to shove,

a tow truck is just a phone call away.

We're off to go and see Mr Oswell, Graham...

..who is the debtor.

The debt itself is for £6,700,

so it's not a small amount of money by any stretch of the imagination.

The defendant has not paid up so far and if that doesn't change today,

Craig's relying on information he's received from the client

about a BMW and a lorry believed to be kept at the property.

I haven't checked on Google Maps or anything.

It may be his, um, residential home.

Or it could be a commercial premises.

The claimant has said the BMW is registered to the defendant

but the lorry is registered to a limited company.

And significantly, Mr Oswell is the director of that company.

However, that's been dissolved as of last year,

so we'll have to have words with him with regard to,

it can't be a company asset because the company's been dissolved.

As he gets to his target address,

spotting which house is the debtor's doesn't prove difficult.

Oh, that could be the lorry.

That's probably the Beemer, eh?

Yes, that's his house, that's the lorry and that's the car there.

The house is on property connected to a working men's club.

Craig wants to see if either of the vehicles are on finance

and confirm their DVLA status.

We'll do the HPI now and see what comes back

and then we'll take it a bit further.

-Bravo, one, nine...

-Craig calls HQ.

'Yeah, the Beemer is fine.'

-Clear of finance, yeah?

-'Yes.'

'Roughly speaking, we should get about four grand for it.'

This means Craig can remove the car.

He believes that if he leaves it here, it would be in jeopardy

and could be moved by the owner.

But what about the lorry?

'Yeah, no, that's clear. There's no finance on that.'

-Right, lovely. Ta-ra.

-'Cheers, bye.'

The leverage is good.

Both vehicles come back clear of finance.

The BMW's worth about 4,000.

The lorry, they can't do a valuation on.

We're chasing £6,700, so, um...

yes, it's looking good. Looking good.

Ready to rock and roll. We'll go and see Mr Oswell now.

Craig heads in.

Can he get his client the money that's rightfully theirs?

Nice wheels.

If anyone is in, they're not answering the door.

To try and find the debtor's whereabouts, Craig turns detective.

The brake disc, slightly rusty. Only a few days there.

Craig suspects no-one has been here for a while.

December 14th.

Hasn't been driven for a long time.

We can't put a clamp on it, we don't do clamps that big, unfortunately,

so we'll speak to Lawrence and see what he wants us to do with it.

Hiya, mate. Just to pick your brains on this one.

No answer to the house at all, both vehicles are clear of finance.

We can't get a valuation on the Scania lorry, but,

to be fair, mate, that's probably worth about ten grand.

The lorry's registered to the limited company,

which is now dissolved,

so what will happen to the assets of the company? I don't know.

'We can't tell just like that, can we? We'll certainly take the BMW.'

With Lawrence at HQ green-lighting the removal of the BMW,

it's time for Craig to call the tow truck.

We've got a vehicle that needs recovering.

With the tow truck on its way, all Craig can do is wait,

but he's acutely aware the situation could change at any moment

if the debtor were to arrive in person.

Worst-case scenario is he suddenly turns up and has attitude.

He certainly will when he sees a tow truck

and it all kicks off.

Ideally I want the tow truck here as soon as possible.

With that in mind, Craig starts the paperwork.

Not bad condition.

Obviously likes to pimp it up a bit.

I'm not into this blingy sort of wheel.

I don't like BMWs, to be fair.

I'm more a Mercedes man myself.

Suddenly a man does appear, but it's not the debtor.

-Hello, sir.

-Good evening... I mean, afternoon.

-I'm the secretary of the club.

-Yes.

This is the club's house, this club's property...

-I thought it would be, yes.

-..and he's a tenant.

-Yes.

And he's in Thailand at the moment.

-He's in where, sorry?

-Thailand.

And he's due back on the 10th of March.

How long has he been away for?

Since about the 10th or 11th of January.

Oh, I see. It's been a long, long, long time.

The news for Craig is the debtor won't be here to prevent removal.

We're taking the car away today.

And, right on cue, the tow truck arrives to complete the job.

Hiya, mate. How are you doing?

Luckily for the tow truck driver,

this one is a straightforward removal.

But often the pressure is really on.

Yes, you just want to get in, clip it and get out,

because I have had people turn up before,

but by that time she's on the back of the truck

and I'm on down the road.

-With that, the debtor's car is whisked away.

-BEEPING

If the debt's not paid within seven days,

it will be sold at auction

and the money used to help pay the sheriff's client.

-Go on, then.

-Yeah, absolutely. You take care. Ta-ra, mate.

But the owner's away for three more weeks,

so his chances of being reunited with his BMW are slim.

The vehicle may be sold without him even knowing.

A lesson learned for everybody.

If you can afford to go to Thailand for at least three months,

then you can afford to pay your bills.

The more valuable lorry is not yet out of the woods either.

The truck itself, we'll do further investigations on that

and depending on how they prevail,

we may come back and remove the truck as well.

With the car gone and the paperwork delivered,

there's nothing more Craig can do today.

He leaves a front drive considerably emptier than when he arrived.

Sheriffs Craig Wild and Tommy Coyle are back in the van

and on their way to another job.

This morning, we're off to a job in Birmingham.

The defendant is a Thomas Moreby.

Thomas Moreby runs a garage called LT Motors,

but this case dates back to work he did on a vehicle

before he started the business.

He was taken to court by the car owner

and the judge found against him, but Mr Moreby hasn't paid up.

The debt is just shy of £6,000, so...

not a small amount of money.

Hopefully he'll be open and trading

and we can get in there and get it resolved.

The garage is located on a trading estate.

It doesn't take the sheriffs long to find it...

-There you go.

-LT Motors.

..and head straight in.

Hi, mate. Can I get in contact with Mr Moreby?

-Yes, speaking.

-My name's Mr Wild. It's about a High Court writ.

-They've sent us out to execute it today for £5,994.

-Oh, my...

I've got 80 quid in my pocket.

I'm waiting for customers to pick cars up and everything.

-I'm here on my own, as you can see.

-HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

The issue is, unfortunately, the court order commands us

to actually demand the payments or we take control of goods. The court...

-Not against LT Motors, is it?

-No, it's against you personally.

-Everything is under LT Motors.

-But it's you trading as,

-not a limited company.

-No.

-No, so it's still your gear.

Mr Moreby claims that the goods are owned by LT Motors.

But because it's not a limited company

and just a name the garage owner trades under,

the goods here are all the property of Mr Moreby.

That means the sheriffs can take control of them

if there's no payment.

Ultimately, the Court Order says

we have to take it in full. If we can't, we've got to take

-the stuff away.

-I can't physically do it today.

Right. We need to try and get as much money as we can at the moment

and try and put you on some sort of arrangement

-if you can't raise it.

-Not today.

-Then my hands are legally tied.

-Yeah, not today.

-Then you won't have a business today.

-No.

-All right.

Yeah, no problem at all.

The garage owner is desperately trying to raise money

to pay off what the court says he owes.

The sheriffs start listing removable assets

that could be taken and sold at auction to settle the debt.

We get this an awful lot - can't raise it, got no money.

I've tried as much as I can to explain the implications

of our actions today, to which he said he can't help out,

so Tommy's now in the process of taking control of goods.

Do that one as well.

How much is that worth?

There's a vehicle that's clearly owned by the garage

as well as tools and equipment.

They've also spotted a valuable red Audi car that could

belong to the owner. Tommy's made a call to the office

to get some details on both vehicles.

The Audi S Line has got a logbook loan against it

but it's secured, so we can't take it.

The other vehicle has a book value of about £1,300 on it,

-which isn't brilliant.

-Without the Audi,

there's not much here to cover the nearly £6,000 debt.

They're still hoping Mr Moreby can raise some funds

to make up the difference.

-Nothing, then?

-Still trying, still trying.

Ringing friends and family, by the sounds of it,

trying to raise as much money as he can.

Craig calls the office to put a tow truck on standby.

That way, Mr Moreby will know the sheriffs mean business.

Otherwise, he will lose the company-branded car and more.

One car, four-poster, normal garage equipment.

Seven and a half ton for the rest of it, yeah, it'll be easy.

Cheers, mate. Ta-ra, bye.

I've got a customer's car, I've got to finish that off,

he's not collecting that till tomorrow.

That Subaru out there, that engine's got to go in,

that'll be planned for today.

That owes me 800 quid out there.

But the writ needs paying now.

He can't raise anything until the weekend.

The value of the assets here are quite minimal,

but we are in a position to remove them if nothing is paid today.

The sheriffs have a dilemma.

Even if they take most of Mr Moreby's tools,

it won't cover the debt

and it could mean he can't work to earn the rest of what he owes.

Not much more we can do, to be honest with you.

But Craig's got an offer from the office.

Just give us five minutes and I'll ring you back. All right, cheers.

Can Mr Moreby find £2,000?

They said that if you can come up with the two,

they'd put you on arrangement.

That's the sort of minimum figure we're looking at.

Craig gets a call back - the truck he requested is standing by.

But just in the nick of time, Mr Moreby has had a brainwave.

How much time have you got left now?

He's just organising now, why?

I've got an Audi that I'm selling, the guy's going to pay me.

I've just actually managed to get hold of the wife,

so he's going to ring me back. Totally forgot about it.

How much is this guy looking to buy this car for, then?

-He's going to put a deposit down, hopefully of the two.

-The two.

A £2,000 deposit from the buyer might keep

the claimant happy as a first payment.

It's not the full amount, but it looks like Mr Moreby has found

just enough money to convince Craig to call off

his removal truck for now - if there's a plan for the rest.

What's the possibility of you raising the money within a week?

-Within a week?

-Yeah.

-All of it?

-Yeah.

Yeah.

Now Craig will have to convince the office

that Mr Moreby isn't being difficult.

'The guy, to be fair, is quite open and genuine,

'he's tried everybody in front of me.'

When can you get the two for us, sir? Later on today?

That's what I'm doing now, yeah.

Craig and Tommy need to move on to their next job

so, having done all they can for now, they give Mr Moreby

a control of goods agreement.

-We've taken control of these items here to act as security...

-Yeah.

..for the balance of £5,994.87.

Give me a bell if you get the two, anything, cash, whatever,

and I can come round and pick it up.

A sole trader in a garage without a great deal of assets

is a tricky assignment, but Craig's confident that he's taken

the best option to get the whole debt paid.

I think this is a fair result for both parties concerned.

Ultimately, the assets were insufficient to remove.

We've took control of them,

we've entered into an arrangement with the defendant to pay.

He's going to pay £2,000 later on today

with the remaining balance within a week.

Later that day, Craig did get a phone call from Mr Moreby,

but he only paid £1,000 of the 2,000 he'd promised.

He insists he intends to pay the rest and clear his debt.

Today, Chris Pearson has a job that will see him

enforcing against a household name on behalf of an unpaid client.

We're off to Manchester today,

Manchester Airport to see Thomas Cook Airlines Ltd.

Unfortunately on holiday, but we need to see them on behalf of

a couple of claimants who have put a claim in for compensation for delay.

Thomas Cook Airlines, for whatever reason, haven't been forthcoming.

A ruling by the European Court in 2012 enabled passengers

who had suffered long flight delays to claim for compensation

and if Chris doesn't get paid today, he has an alternative plan.

If push comes to shove, if we can't identify

any assets to take control of, we have to take control...

In the event that they don't pay,

we will need to take control of any available assets.

Now, if that involves taking control of a plane,

unfortunately that is what we will need to do.

Pretty sure it won't come to that, but we are well within our rights

if they are the only assets available.

Chris's sheriff powers allow him to visit any address

in England and Wales where he believes a debtor has assets,

and that includes Manchester Airport.

Parent company Thomas Cook made a £66 million profit

in one year in the UK, so they should have the cash.

But can Chris walk away with the £4,059 that's owed

to his clients today?

-Good morning.

-Hello, there.

I need to speak to somebody in connection with

Thomas Cook Airlines Ltd, please.

Thanks very much.

Chris is in an on the case, but our camera is asked to leave.

Travellers at Manchester Airport are flying off on their journeys,

while on the ground, sheriff Chris is trying to get payment

for the two clients who were delayed.

And in record time, Chris is out of the building with news.

They paid by credit card. I had a PDQ machine at the end of the day.

Both writs were cleared off, £1,232 for one

and £2,829 for another one.

That's two good results in one hit. Happy with that.

Hardest thing was just waiting and people who, with respect,

didn't know exactly what it was all about, people trying to help who were

really just putting barricades in the way, putting obstacles in the way.

That's a little frustrating at the time, but unfortunately,

you just have to let people say what they have to say, let them

get on with it and it'll all come to a peaceful outcome in the end.

There's just been some glitch somewhere down the line,

so we don't know what's happened, and to be honest,

we don't really care what's happened.

They've cleared up now, that's the end of it.

A lengthy delay was the cause of the problem, but sheriff Chris Pearson's

approach has led to a very swift end to this case.

Thomas Cook Airlines told us...