Episode 4 The Sheriffs Are Coming

-Meet the sheriffs.

-Let's introduce ourselves.

-Got a High Court writ.

If it's not payable, we're going to 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 the cost of 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.

They're Enforcement Agents of the High Court

and the law says they're on your side.

Just collected £42,000.

Coming up...

One proud Mini owner in Derbyshire put his car in for an engine refit,

what he got back came as a surprise.

They really did ruin the car completely.

Tommy is on the case to get him his money back.

They way it's standing at the minute,

they want us to look to remove.

So we're going to need to get some money together, basically.

The sheriffs take up the fight for a small dental supply firm in Kent

who were left feeling numb when they didn't get paid.

The worst case scenario is that

I potentially may have to make people redundant.

Lawrence and Kev are sent to put that right

My name's Mr Grix, I'm here today

to take control of goods to the value of £1,022.91.

And sheriffs Marc and Tony are visiting a car garage.

We just need to speak to him cos if

we don't, we'll be taking his cars out of here.

But taking control of cars is difficult

when the sheriffs get locked in.

Today, sheriffs Tommy Coyle and Craig Wild

are working together in the Midlands.

They're both glad to have a partner with them because they've got

a tricky job ahead.

They're making a return visit to a company called Jonspeed Ltd

but both of them are feeling the pressure on this case.

Tommy carried out the first visit on his own

but couldn't get any money and he had a dispute with the owners.

We're on our way to a call in Nuneaton this morning,

it's a business, Jonspeed Ltd, we've been on this call...

Well, I've been on this call on my own previously.

Very aggressive from the off, wanted me to leave the premises,

obviously, I explain I can't do that.

He's demanding I get out of the building, I stand my ground,

it gets very heated, I have to call 999, police attend, he's concocted

a story that I've assaulted him,

to get me gone, basically.

So it came out me actually leaving in the end.

Thankfully, the allegations from staff at the company

weren't taken any further.

A few weeks later, I have a letter saying the case has been dropped,

there's no case to answer cos it was just a ridiculous accusation.

And we're back here today,

hoping to meet the gentleman again and get it sorted.

And the man hoping they really do get it sorted,

is car-mad retiree, Anthony James, from Derbyshire.

He's the very proud owner of this Mini.

It's just that I love Minis.

I loved the car from the first time I set my eyes on it and

it was my pride and joy,

and no matter what that car wanted, money-wise, it had spent on it.

I would never, ever get rid of it.

It's looking a bit dirty.

I'm doing some work on her but I absolutely love it to bits.

It was originally a Mini Mayfair,

I've had it resprayed in Aston Martin guards red.

But like so many of the things in life we love,

they sometimes cause us a lot of grief.

Anthony decided to have his Mini's engine refurbished.

He hoped it would mean improved performance and speed.

He looked around for a company to do the work

and settled on a garage called Jonspeed Ltd.

I entrusted them with the job, spoke to them, they seemed great.

Me and a friend of mine took the engine out and took it to them.

Initially, it was for six weeks,

and unfortunately, the whole escapade lasted some 11 months.

This is my de-stress room.

Well, that's all lit up.

With his Mini off the road,

Anthony had an attic full of other cars to play with.

The layout I have is based on '60s Goodwood.

1,700 cars-plus,

majority of them, Spanish and older cars

and it's something I love doing,

which I spend a lot of time up in my loft restoring

and I sell on eBay and sell all over the world.

Never mind, have another go.

After weeks of waiting, the time came for Anthony to put down

the Scalextric and go and collect the real engine from Jonspeed Ltd.

He and his friend, Steven, a car expert,

brought it home to fit it back into the Mini.

After the engine had gone in, there was a leak from the water pump.

The engine smoked, it just wasn't good at all

and Steven, being a first-class mechanic, that's his trade,

said, "This is not a particularly good engine, there's problems here."

Naturally, he contacted Jonspeed Ltd.

So, I dealt with them and asked them to collect the car, I didn't

want to take the engine out, it was their responsibility

because obviously, they'd done the work, so they collected the car

and had, basically, four attempts to get the engine right.

Despite that, the engine still wasn't running well.

Anthony says he returned the car three times

because the engine appeared to be smoking and when that problem

seemed to have been fixed, he noticed the oil pressure was wrong.

It was going down when it should be going up.

He took it back for a fourth time but it still wasn't fixed.

He says he lost patience with the garage

and decided to take his car back for good.

Well, after 11 months of trying and giving them every opportunity to

put the car right, they couldn't.

And on turning up at the workshop, the last time, to pick my car up,

I was told never to go back to them.

They made it very, very clear to

me that they didn't want to see me or my car ever again.

They really did ruin the car completely.

I was very close to getting rid of the car.

He had waited patiently but now, he didn't want to risk

driving any distance in a car that he felt still wasn't running right.

He decided he would need advice from another Mini specialist

and that could mean more work being needed.

I had to have the engine tuned by a proper specialist

cos it was so rough.

It's work after work after work

but fortunately, now, the car runs perfect, the car's spot-on

and I've got, touch wood, no more problems.

Anthony was finally happy.

The second garage was able to get the car running well

and he was pleased with their work.

But as a result, he was left with a bill for £1,000.

Getting his car fixed up had proved a disaster and as a result,

Anthony decided to take legal action

to get back what he'd spent on the engine.

The decision to go to court was not hard for me.

It was a straightforward matter.

I was passionate about the whole thing and it needed to be sorted

because it's very unfair for us, as customers, we have to pay and

if we don't pay, there's a problem, they can get their money.

I paid, upfront, and for all the works done,

and when it comes to getting your money back, it's a hard, long slog.

He took his case to court but no-one from Jonspeed Ltd turned up to put

their side of the story

and the judgment was made in Anthony's favour.

I was hoping they would pay up,

the amount of £4,830 that was awarded.

Unfortunately, they didn't.

So then, the bailiffs from the small claims attended Jonspeed

and had no success in claiming any money whatsoever.

Now, in the meantime, there was a programme that came on the television

called The Sheriffs Are Coming and I thought to myself,

"I think I'll use them."

The total now stands at over £7,500.

On the road in Nuneaton, sheriffs Tommy and Craig are hoping

to get stuck in and get Anthony his money.

They're about to make their second visit to Jonspeed Ltd.

The last one ended in confrontation with staff

and the police had to be called.

It also turned out that the sheriffs' writ said 'Jonspeed'

instead of 'Jonspeed Ltd'

but this time, they have the right name and are looking to get paid.

There's been a change in name on the writ, they've got the 'Ltd' on there

as well, so we'll be making a beeline for him

and having a chat with him and see if he wants to pay this in full.

There's a lot of money at stake and Tommy doesn't want a confrontation.

It's always better to double up on these things and to calm

the aggression down from the start.

We're bringing the police with us to stop a breach of the peace

from the off.

The judgment debt, now, is just short of £8,000.

There is assets there and if he ain't going to pay anything,

then we might get the instruction just to remove what is there.

The unit they are heading to is on an industrial estate,

so they pull up and wait for the police to arrive.

I think I've met these guys before.

What we're going to do is I'm going to drive down

turn round and pull up so I can come straight out

and go to enter the unit.

I don't know if you guys want to pull up straight away or follow me,

and pull up behind, it's up to you.

Tommy and Craig are straight in with the police behind them.

There you go.

Hello. All right, mate.

Just trying to get in contact with Mr Warmington.

-Mr Warmington...

-You all right, mate?

-We're back again.

They've changed the name on the order

to Jonspeed Ltd.

Just sent us back to enforce the writ, unfortunately.

-Was he going to pay it?

-Yeah.

But a quick check by Tommy

confirms no payment has been made

towards the £7,000+ debt.

There's absolutely nothing on the file.

So what did you propose?

If you had e-mailed 'em and said,

"We're going to pay £1,000 today...?"

-Right...

-Then we'll start paying monthly £1,000...

I asked the question. I said, "What would be acceptable."

They can't tell you that, it's down to you to offer.

This employee is saying that he made an offer to pay,

but Tommy feels he needed to offer a specific amount.

As the court ordered them to pay up, they should have done so.

So, you're going to need to get some money together, basically.

Yeah, I know that.

The way it stands, they want us to look to remove.

That's what we're geared up for today,

hence we've got the police here.

I'm OK with the police being here,

especially after what happened last time.

Yeah, cool. We just need you to make payment or unfortunately...

-..we need to start listing assets.

-What do we need to pay today?

Well, the whole amount at the moment.

We're not going to be able to afford the whole amount.

But after Tommy's insistence,

the staff realise they have to make a serious offer today.

He's gave 'em a debit payment of £1,500 today -

but...can't stretch any more than that. I might as well shut me door.

Right. I'll put that to them

and come and have a chat with you in a second.

Tommy doesn't think their £1,500 offer is big enough.

He goes outside to call the office.

All right, I'll put that to them.

We'll take it from there. No problem.

They agree that Jonspeed Ltd need to improve it.

Negotiations aren't over yet.

If you pay 2,500 today,

we will list everything down -

which is only on paper -

you then sign a controlled goods agreement,

like you'll pay 500 a month after the 2,500

and we go forward from there.

Are you going to be able to do that? Cos other than that...

They've agreed to Tommy's offer - it's a major success

in getting Anthony his money as quickly as possible.

And it's a big improvement over the last visit.

It's just going to be a part-payment today of 2,500.

We're going to take control of everything in there,

get a controlled goods agreement signed, as we do,

to secure the rest of the debt. They'll pay £500 a month -

it's a good result.

Tommy heads up to the office to arrange today's payment.

And as part of their repayment agreement, the sheriffs have taken

control of valuable assets in the garage such as tools and machinery.

That means the company can't dispose of them

until the debt is paid - and the sheriffs relinquish control.

Is it a debit card? Yeah. OK.

My colleague at the moment is just doing the list of assets.

Once he's completed that, I'll leave you a copy of everything today,

I'll briefly go through it with you.

And I'll do you a handwritten receipt, for your payment today.

And with the sheriffs' work done, Jonspeed Ltd can go back to work.

And so can the police, who weren't needed this time round.

All right, take care. Take care,

I'll probably see you again in the future.

Yeah, result. They managed get £2,500 paid on the PDQ machine.

The value of the stuff was minimal

compared to what the actual debt is,

so getting a part-payment as Tommy did was quite an achievement.

We took control of all the goods in there,

got them into a controlled goods agreement, £500 per month.

So it was a good result, considering what happened last time!

The team at Jonspeed Ltd wanted a chance

to put their side of the story.

He didn't fit his oil filter housing correctly,

which caused a lack of oil

to go to the engine and blew it up. He blamed us for that.

We brought the car back here to sort it out

even though I don't have to sort it out.

I wouldn't never change from the way I am.

I'm honest, I'm fair with everybody.

You know, we only earn an honest living here.

Tommy and Craig are back on the road,

and Anthony feels he can move on, as well.

I feel great now that I've got the money.

At last, justice has been done and I'd like to say

to Tommy and Craig, thank you very much for what you've done.

I really do appreciate it, and long may you be doing the job..

Being a sheriff is not always a pleasant or easy job.

They never know what's going to happen when they arrive

at the place named on a writ. And although they have a very

high success rate, there are days when things just don't go their way.

Sheriffs Marc and Tony are about to have one of those days.

Don't really have any details.

Amount outstanding is £3,381.76

The claimant, who doesn't want to be identified,

bought a car from a dealer in the Southeast.

The buyer alleged the car was faulty

and won a court judgment,

but despite the court's decision, the debt was never paid.

So now, Marc and Tony will pay the dealer a visit.

It doesn't take long to locate the premises.

Yeah, it's on your side.

There it is, there.

Sales office.

They park their van across the entrance and head in.

-There's a man in the yard...

-Are you all right?

And he isn't pleased to be filmed. He asks the sheriffs to go.

We're not going anywhere, mate, cos we're from the High Court,

so, yeah...

As they make their way towards the office,

the man runs ahead of them...

..and locks the door behind him.

Hey, mate, do you want to open the door? Here we go.

It is them - they've got a Company House certificate on the wall.

The certificate is in the name of the company they're looking for.

There's another man inside the office

and he asks the sheriffs what they've come for.

You all right?

We have a High Court writ against the company.

The man says he's nothing to do with the business

and that the owner isn't here.

Can you ring him? It's important. We've a High Court writ against him.

£3,381.

We just need to speak to him, cos if we don't,

we'll be taking his cars out of here.

The man says he'll call the boss and retreats from the window.

Things aren't off to a good start.

Although there's a yard full of valuable vehicles,

the people inside the office don't seem to want to cooperate

and our camera is attracting some unwelcome attention.

They really don't like the camera, do they?

They're now spraying the cameraman with the jetwash.

It looks like the sheriffs

will have to take control of the company's goods.

As Tony makes a list of cars, Marc's phone rings.

-I don't know.

-Oh, that could be him.

Hello?

Hello? Hello, mate.

Could this be the absent boss?

Who am I speaking to?

It's to do with a High Court writ.

Suddenly, a large bucket of water is thrown over our cameraman,

and the camera is disabled.

A short while later, we continue filming on a mini camera.

Another camera arrives to replace the water-damaged one.

The sheriffs have now been at the garage for four hours

and the situation has deteriorated.

The business has refused to pay

and the sheriffs have clamped one of the cars.

Usually, this tactic prompts debtors to try and find some money,

but today, it's different.

More people connected to the garage have arrived and one of them

has parked across the entrance,

preventing the sheriffs removing any cars.

They've also chained up the gate with Marc and Tony inside.

Only one thing is going to resolve this situation -

Tony has called the police.

But as the sheriffs wait, locked

uncomfortably inside the premises, there is no sign of the police.

More time passes and the sheriffs'

tow trucks have arrived to take cars.

But there's still no police.

It's an offence to prevent a sheriff from carrying out his work,

but people at the garage have no intention of letting Marc

and Tony take cars.

With no police to help, Marc thinks the situation can't be saved.

He is now just looking at getting out.

We ain't getting nowhere. We're just going to leave.

-They're going to let us out.

-Yeah?

-Yeah. You go.

Just leave it at that.

-Sorry, guys, but...

-No, no, that's fine.

Staff at the garage agree to unlock the gate

if the sheriffs are only taking control of cars on paper,

so finally Marc and Tony walk out.

It's a frustrating end to a long day.

They've let us out, so...

Well, to be honest,

that was probably the most horrendous job I've done in 12,

13 years of doing the job.

We ended up getting locked in the yard, we was getting nowhere.

We've called the police over four hours ago.

It's just bit of a pain really,

cos we could have done with actually taking the cars away

but we've spent a good five hours of our day stuck here

wanting to enforce the writ which means either collecting the payment

or taking goods away to cover the debt, so all in all,

it's been a bit of a bad day.

Sometimes a sheriff as experienced as Marc knows he must admit defeat.

Tony's had enough, he wants to go home.

And that is where the case ended for the sheriffs.

After an appeal by the garage,

the original judgment was set aside and no further action taken.

So Marc and Tony were only too glad they didn't have to return.

These days, sheriffs are officially called

enforcement agents of the High Court.

Yeah, who are you, sir?

I've got a High Court writ I'm executing here today.

We're here to collect £1,930.20.

It doesn't matter what the dispute is, you have to pay.

The law's the law...and it applies to everybody.

They enforce High Court writs

and also have protection under the law.

Craig, do you want to ring the police?

This gentleman's stopping me doing my job.

Stop a sheriff from doing his job and you've committed

a criminal offence.

We've got a legal document to evict you.

They can call the police who can arrest you, charge you

and take you into custody...

You don't have to say anything but it can harm your defence.

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

It's 1,857.90, which needs to be paid today.

A High Court writ costs £60.

It's very odd.

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

Yay!

And if they're unsuccessful, the only cost is a compliance fee

of £75 plus VAT for each enforcement.

It's late morning in Kent.

Kev and Lawrence have already made several visits and they're

looking to get their teeth into one more before biting into lunch.

We're on our way to a Miss Meha Surendra Opie.

But we're actually going to a dental practice.

Generally speaking, dentists have got money.

So, hopefully, we should be able to clear this up.

But it's not just cash they can take.

Dental chairs are highly valuable,

along with some of their other equipment.

Obviously, it tends to be bolted to the floor.

But this isn't an ordinary case.

Today, the sheriffs are acting on behalf of a company

they've helped to keep afloat over the years,

by chasing debts and ensuring they got paid.

This is Dental Sky in Ashford, Kent.

It's a small dental wholesalers which supplied dentist

Meha Opie with consumables and disposable stock for the surgery,

but were not paid for what they supplied.

Carla Sutcliffe runs the business

and she's very worried that the unpaid debt

could have a major impact on the business she has helped to build.

Well, the sheriffs are my last hope on this.

If they can't collect,

then I'm going to have some short-term cash flow problems.

The worst-case scenario is that I potentially may have to

make people redundant.

Carla's business nearly went under a few years ago.

The company had several hundred thousand pounds of unpaid debts

and would have folded, if they hadn't brought in the sheriffs.

I soon realised that the only way we were going to survive

was to...pursue these debts.

We are not a big corporate company, we can't afford to absorb bad debt.

The sheriffs tracked down much of the money owed to the company.

It was a life-saver to the 40 people employed here.

Without that, we would never have survived.

And in the case of Meha Opie the dentist,

there's nearly £1,200 owed.

A repayment plan was in place, but it wasn't followed properly.

So Carla feels she's waited long enough before

calling in the sheriffs.

She made an offer to pay £300 a month which I accepted.

She didn't make the payments so then it had to be pursued.

The sheriffs are always the last resort.

I never want to have to go to them,

but it's a needs-must situation and I know they'll deliver.

But whether they can deliver or not is now a matter

for Lawrence and Kev.

-Here it is.

-Indeed it is.

See if that quizzer's on.

-Hi there.

-Hi, I'm looking for a Ms Meha Surendra Opie.

She's not here? So, does she actually own the practice?

So, everything here is hers?

Excellent.

If she owns the surgery, then goods here are more likely to be hers

and the sheriffs could take control of them.

Lawrence quickly gets her number

so he can explain in person that the sheriffs have come to have a chat.

Hello, is that Ms Meha Opie?

Good afternoon, my name's Mr Grix, I'm an enforcement agent.

I'm at your dental practice at the moment.

I have a High Court writ in favour of Dental Sky Wholesale Ltd.

And I'm here today to take control of goods to the value of £1,022.91.

The only way to prevent further action is pay in full.

Lawrence is straight through but there's a problem.

The dentist says she has been making monthly payments of £300

as agreed by the court.

Right, so you've paid June, July...?

And that's it, you've not paid August yet?

OK, bear with me, what I'll do, I've got your number,

I'm going to get in touch with my office and find out what's going on

and I'll give you a ring back.

OK? Bye-bye.

But Kev has a suspicion of what's happened.

So she, she knew all about it...?

Yeah, if she's paid late by a day, though,

she's breached the court order.

A quick call to the office puts Lawrence in the picture.

Cheers, bye.

I found out that at least one of the payments was late,

there was payment made on the 31st of July, obviously should have been

the 23rd of July so it looks like she's paying late.

If a court order says that you pay by that date,

those funds have to clear by that date.

So, I'm just going to give her a buzz back.

With the court order breached, Carla now wants payment in full.

And whilst Lawrence gives the dentist the bad news,

Kev has his mind on the backup plan.

What we'll do is stay on site

at the moment, just in case she doesn't pay

and we have to potentially remove goods as there's...I guess there's

going to be a lot of value here if we need to.

Lawrence has spoken to the dentist and she promised to pay

the full sum, of over £1,000, straight away.

She's on the motorway coming down from Derby

and she's going to pull into motorway services

so that she can get an internet connection

and make a payment online...um...

A little while ago I spoke to her, now.

Straight to voicemail.

With no further word on payment,

Kev decides to see exactly what assets are here.

Pretty sure that on its own will be more than enough to cover the amount

we're after at the moment.

But as Lawrence said, he'll have to unbolt the chair from the floor

if it's to be taken.

Outside, Lawrence is back in touch with the debtor.

She says she's paid the full amount to clear the debt.

Right, what I'll do, I'll just give my office a ring

just to confirm that

and then I'll leave some paperwork and a receipt for you

in a sealed envelope with your receptionist.

OK? Thanks. Bye-bye.

A quick check reveals the account is now settled.

Lawrence doesn't understand

why people don't run their accounts more carefully.

One of the payments was late, at least one of them,

so she was in breach of the court order, basically,

so the full amount was due.

She pulled into the motorway services where she could get

a signal on her computer, went on to our online card payment system

and paid in full online.

If you've got the money to pay a debt you should just pay it,

because if you opt to pay by instalments and it's down to you

to make the payments and you miss an instalment, then you leave yourself

open to due legal process and we can be knocking on your door.

So if you've got the money to pay a debt, why not just pay it?

It's been another good day for Lawrence and Kev.

But more importantly, it means Carla Sutcliffe's Dental Sky in Kent

getting back the money that they're owed.

Absolutely delighted and it's a huge relief.

They were able to recover...

It was about £1,200 which doesn't sound like a lot of money

to some people...um...but now, it means I can pay a few bills,

but it also means that we can continue trading...confidently.

I would urge all small businesses

not to try and deal with debt on your own.

It's really not worth it.

There is somebody out there that can help you.

It's just learning how to go through the process

and not being frightened of it.

For a £60 fee, the sheriffs can enforce a High Court writ,

and that means they're out trying to get people the money they're owed,

whatever the weather.

We're out this morning on this very cold wintry morning in a little

place near Worcester. We're out to see a limited company called

Rhino Recycling Ltd, near enough £7,700 balance on the account.

But this isn't the first time Craig has driven down this road.

I've personally been here before, took control of goods and entered

into an arrangement with the director of the company

to pay £1,000 a week.

Um...he paid me £1,600 on the day but unfortunately,

since then, he's failed to maintain his arrangement,

hence the reason why me and Tommy are back.

On arrival at the site, there's a locked gate between the sheriffs

and the company they're after.

They have the authority to gain access by climbing the fence -

it's part of their power as sheriffs.

But on this cold and frosty day,

they are going for a different tactic.

So the plan is just to sort of hang back here at the moment, hoping that

somebody will come onto the estate or come out of the estate

so therefore, the gates will automatically open.

And then we can gain our entry that way.

There's a car coming.

Can you just follow him in?

Yeah, yeah. Not yet, not yet, wait until...and go.

Craig's tactic has worked,

and its a bit more subtle than scaling the fence.

Craig and Tommy are in.

Time to find out why the company has stopped paying as per

the agreement from Craig's last visit.

See the white lorry there? That's their truck.

That's the little hut there?

Yeah, that's his office. And this is all of it.

It's a large open-air recycling site for industrial companies.

It stinks, doesn't it?

But the sheriffs head straight to the nerve centre - this hut.

-Hello, sir.

-Hello, mate.

-Is the director about at all?

-No, I'm afraid.

-Can he be contacted at all?

Don't care, can we have him out, please?

They ask us to leave the hut, but Craig and Tommy investigate

why the agreement to pay is not being kept to.

And after a bit of negotiation,

Tommy thinks they're getting somewhere.

Craig spoke to the director, who he spoke to on his previous visit,

explained that he signed the controlled goods agreement,

he hasn't made the payments, needs to pay in full.

The director is having two teeth out quite urgently this morning,

just about to get to the dentist.

He says he can pay £1,000.

With £1,000 today and £1,600 paid on Craig's previous visit,

they will still need nearly £5,000 to clear the debt.

If the cash isn't available on the day,

Craig will look at taking control

of any expensive plant equipment the company may have.

That means it can be sold at auction to clear a debt.

But Craig will have to prove it belongs to the company.

He's also saying that everything here is on finance.

He's not supplied that evidence which he should have done

when the goods were taken control of.

But we will still look at it.

So he's got an employee in there digging out the information

about everything being on finance.

I mean, if everything is on finance, then obviously

we need to renegotiate, maybe look at accepting what he's got today

and getting him back into an agreement.

It can go either way at the minute -

if all stacks up and it is on finance,

there is no nothing we can legally remove.

In the hut,

Craig is with company staff as they look through their records

to find any credit agreements for the equipment that is here.

The sheriffs are hoping to prove

that some of it is owned by the company.

Craig's just going through some paperwork with the gentleman

but at the moment, it's looking like anything of any real monetary value

is on a lease or an agreement.

We're still going to be getting some money today,

we're just going to keep pressing and getting as much as we can today

and then probably look at getting him back on an agreement but

obviously we're not going to let him know that yet until we've gone

through all the paperwork with a fine-tooth comb.

But the sheriffs want the maximum for their client.

Craig is going to check the site for any unlisted gear...

..which gives Tommy a chance to attend to more personal matters.

It's a beard comb. Just to keep myself well groomed, you know?

And while Tommy is thorough with his grooming,

Craig's examination of the records has revealed that there might

be a few items the sheriffs can take control of.

Unfortunately for them, there are some assets which aren't on finance,

which we are liable to take today - this was the office furniture and

a few items of plant.

The sheriffs have the power to search the site.

By finding the equipment the company does own,

Craig is in a stronger position to push them

to make a decent cash offer to get the debt paid.

And that's what he's now doing.

Inside the hut,

he's managed to get a better offer than their original £1,000.

However, it's not a paid in full, or PIF for short.

So, we've come to an arrangement today to pay £2,000 today,

£2,700 in a weeks' time,

£1,500 a week after that,

and the remaining £1,500 a week after that.

So all in all, in four weeks' time, it will be paid.

As happy as we can be today - obviously it's not a PIF but it's

a result with the situation we had. So...yeah, happy.

Let's go.

Rhino Recycling later failed to keep up repayments

via the sheriffs

and the team are awaiting instructions from their client.

Sheriffs Tommy Coyle and Craig Wild are heading into central Nottingham

looking for a place that's rumoured to do the best sandwiches in town.

But they won't be trying them.

Right, so, we're in Nottingham today, off to see Brown Betty's,

it's a sandwich bar.

The claimant itself is a company called Manor Foods, we understand

that they probably supply food to these premises.

We've had a little look at it on the internet, it looks quite popular,

it's got some good write-ups about their sandwiches and breakfasts

they do, so they seem to do quite well.

The debt itself is quite large, it's just short of £15,000,

so not a small amount of money.

So the intention is to gain access

as quick as we can, and see where we go from there.

Hopefully might get a paid in full.

Debts or not, Craig has fond memories of Nottingham.

Back in the day, it was quite a good nightlife.

The ratio was always quite good in Nottingham...

Colleagues told me it was about six to one, and I couldn't believe that

but when I found myself here on a few nights, it wasn't a six to one,

it was a good five.

And the nightclubbing lifestyle has been good to Craig.

I did meet my wife in a nightclub, but not up here, in Birmingham.

Been happily married ever since. So...yeah.

Yeah?

But his relationship with his other partner

is getting off to a bad start today.

Why don't you take one for the team? I did yesterday.

I ain't paying again. I ain't paying for parking every day.

Lend me four quid.

I paid £6 yesterday.

He don't like parting with money, our Wild.

He's collected millions in unpaid debts over the years,

but putting small change into a parking machine has stumped Craig.

Welcome to Nottingham.

-Eh?

-Oh, geez!

What's the problem? It ain't rocket science, son.

-Nah. Can't do it.

-Why?

-Won't accept the money.

Check tariff, put the money in, press the green button.

Do that then. There you go. Press green.

Yeah. That's green, yes, isn't it?

Finally, they're parked up legitimately.

-Done?

-We're in, we're in.

Now they can get on with the job at the sandwich shop.

It's a busy place and the sheriffs don't want to interrupt them

from serving customers.

# Whoa Brown Betty, bam ba lam. #

You all right? Is the boss about?

You're all bosses? Is there anywhere I can have a word in private?

I can come out the back if you want me to,

I'll explain everything to you.

-I'll wait here.

-If there's only room for two it's fine.

Tommy moves out of the way of paying customers

as our camera is asked to wait outside.

Being asked to pay almost £15,000 is a shock for any small business.

And whilst Tommy explains,

Craig stays inside to get an idea of what assets might be in the shop.

The sheriffs need to see what money, if any, they can get today.

It's all down to the sheriffs' negotiating skills

but the staff are saying there's no way they can pay.

They seem to be like a family-run business, they've been here

in excess of 30 years, trading.

Tom is explaining the situation to them now.

We want to be as discreet as possible,

they're a small family-run business,

so we don't want to affect it too much.

Absolute maximum I can get is £1,000 today.

There's limited assets. I've explained you're going

to come in now - be very discreet,

list some items, do it from the other side if you can.

I've done most of it.

Have you done most of it? If you can just do that for me, I'm going to do

the rest of the paperwork in there.

Can I have a receipt book as well, mate?

While some jobs require them to deal with confrontational non-payers,

the sheriffs can see the sandwich shop needs more careful handling.

They realise that if they take too much cash or stock from the shop,

then the business won't be able to make any money from customers.

That would mean the nearly £15,000 debt won't get paid.

And after further discussions inside, the till is opening.

They've agreed to make a payment.

Tommy and Craig's softer approach has got a result,

and the sheriffs are leaving without removing a single bread roll.

Yeah, that went fine, they got as much money as they can which was

£1,000 cash today, which we're quite happy with. Took control of the

rest of the goods on site, got a CGA, controlled goods agreement signed.

They're going to forward a proposal into the office within 24 hours.

They're all quite compliant, no aggression at all,

being a sandwich bar, very little assets within the premises

and what assets they had were of minimal value.

It is a small business, they'd rather keep it running

so they can get this debt paid.

To do that, we took the part payment

and looked to give them the agreement.

Good result for the sheriffs and hopefully another happy claimant.

The sandwich shop later agreed to pay £500 a month

to clear the remaining debt.