Episode 3 The Sheriffs Are Coming

If you're owed money but aren't getting paid...

it's time to call the sheriffs.

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

I'm here to issue a high court writ.

I've got to do what I'm instructed to by the courts.

They're enforcement agents of the High Court.

And if a court's ruled in your favour, they're on your side.

If the debtor doesn't want to pay...

You currently owe £9,461.80.

..the law says the sheriffs can get you what you're owed.

If you don't come to the door, we have to remove

the vehicle off the drive.

You'll have a week to pay in full before it gets sold at auction.

Whether it's a small company...

Can I speak to the person in charge, please?

..or a household name...

We're here to see somebody from G4S.

..if they owe you money, the sheriffs get it paid.

I'm not going anywhere, you get him to come in here.

We're not going to be waiting around like that, it needs to be done now.

I just collected 42 grand.

Coming up...

things get heated at a car dealer's in east London.

-Move, move.

-Oi, oi, oi! Pal.

You think you can come in here and start bullying people.

I'll get my pals here and we'll see who's going to bully who.

But can Sheriff Ken Warby get them to pay the five grand they owe?

The value of the goods is here.

Did I not warn you earlier that this would happen?

In Leeds, Michael Redman's house was left exposed to the elements

after an insulation job was abandoned halfway through.

It leaked, it was draughty, it was an eyesore.

You could actually look through the window frames out into the street.

Sheriff Chris Pearson pays the company a visit.

-Can they take the heat?

-Is the boss in, mate?

-He's not, no.

-Can you get him on the phone for me?

And when Lawrence and Kev visit a classic car restorer's,

the boss admits he's made a mistake in ignoring the court.

The reason I didn't pay was purely on principle.

It's a chilly winter's morning in London and enforcement agent

Ken Warby is working his patch in the north of the city.

His first job today is to pay a visit to a car

dealership in Walthamstow.

We're going to a place called BD Trade Sales Ltd.

And it's an individual that has taken them to court for just over

four grand.

BD Trade Sales Ltd were taken to court by a Mr Tarsem Kainth.

He bought a second-hand car which broke down on the way home,

and was refused a refund.

The company didn't defend the case,

so Mr Kainth won a default judgment, but he's never been paid.

Now, including fees, the debt's just over £5,000.

Ken knows that collecting money from car dealerships can be tricky.

Different people owning different vehicles in the yard.

Paperwork has to be got out. Proof has to be shown.

There's usually an argument there somewhere.

What he doesn't know is that today's argument is going to

involve not one but two car dealerships.

Blue Diamond garages. That could be the one.

No, BD Trade Sales is different.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-BD Trade Sales Ltd?

I'm here regarding a high court writ of control against

BD Trade Sales from a Mr Tarsem Kainth.

Why you got the camera here? Tell the camera to move away.

The man asks our camera to leave the forecourt before telling

Ken that the case against the company is in dispute.

-It's to be set aside, is it?

-No, it's already set aside.

Is it? Have you got any paperwork I can see?

-Yeah.

-Thank you.

The man says the judgment against BD Trade Sales has already been

overturned by the courts.

But when he shows Ken the paperwork, it instead seems to

show their application for a set aside hasn't yet been successful.

But then he comes up with a different reason not to pay...

It's not his company.

This debt is against BD Trade Sales.

And he is the MD of a company called Blue Diamond.

Blue Diamond is a different garage, just down the road.

But there's a reason why its boss is manning the BD Trade Sales office.

They're brothers and one owes the other one a debt.

The man says that because his brother owes him money,

he's given him all the cars on the BD Trade Sales forecourt,

so now they belong to Blue Diamond Garages Ltd.

That would mean Ken can't remove them,

but he's not just going to take his word for it.

Unless they can provide money transfer proof that each

vehicle on this site was sold from the defendant company to the

brother's company, then we can remove the vehicles.

Inside, the man does manage to produce invoices which appear

to back up his story.

But for Ken, it's still not enough.

Because there are no actual bank transfers

and no solicitors undertaking for one company to satisfy

the debt to another company, also that's not around.

So it all looks a little bit iffy.

The man in the office has now got hold of his brother

on the phone, so Ken talks to him to try to clarify the situation.

You are the MD of BD Trade Sales Ltd, are you?

My instructions are to remove a vehicle or two from here to

cover this debt.

The boss doesn't want to pay.

He too is claiming the cars on the forecourt belong to

Blue Diamond, but Ken disagrees.

Because we don't have anything in concrete from a solicitor,

for example, saying that this is a bona fide debt

and it needs to be paid in a certain way, we can remove vehicles.

Yeah, I understand that.

But on the basis of you saying you owe him loads of money

and him saying the same, that isn't good enough.

We have to have it properly documented.

Yeah. It's not good enough, mate, it's not good enough.

Unfortunately you've got a stance there, I've got a stance as well.

Unfortunately we're at an impasse.

I'll just make a phone call and get a transporter on its way down here.

And obviously you do what you've got to do, my friend,

and I've got to do what I'm instructed to by the courts.

Yeah, you just said that. Thank you very much.

Cheers for speaking to me.

True to his word, Ken makes a call, to book a tow truck to remove cars.

If I need you in E17, how long?

That's all right, I might need it, I might not.

The truck's now on standby and Ken warns the man

that if he has to call it, then there'll be extra charges.

It seems to have the desired effect as the man now says he'll

try to get some money together on his brother's behalf.

But not all of it.

He does have the means to pay. I'm sure he does.

He's saying I can pay part and part at the end of this month.

But considering the value of the vehicles here

and we're only after around five grand, I want payment in one go.

If it was a football match it's like a one-all draw at the moment.

You know, going in at half-time it's like one-all.

But I know we're going to come out strong in the second half

and get full payment, win the game.

Later in the programme...

Move that camera from here.

..it all kicks off at BD Trade Sales...

Why you coming in here and start bullying the man?

Why you doing that for?

And we find out whether Ken can get the money owed.

-Did I not warn you earlier that this would happen?

-No.

The police would turn up, the transporter would turn up,

it would be like a scene out of Beadle's About and here we are.

If you've been ripped off and the person or company responsible

refuses to pay you back,

the first step is to make a claim in the County Court.

It's simple to do this online

for a small fee depending on the size of the claim.

The court will review the evidence,

and if it finds in your favour, the debtor will be ordered to pay up.

If they don't, then for a further £66,

the High Court will grant a writ,

authorising the sheriffs to act on your behalf.

If they're successful, you get all your money back.

Sheriff Chris Pearson is chasing a debt owed by a businessman

specialising in green home improvements.

We're in Leeds today.

We're off to see a Mr James Kahn.

It's for the sum of £1,587.

Owed for... Which I believe is insulation.

Which is either incorrectly fitted, or it wasn't fitted at all.

Mr Kahn runs a company called the Green Deal Warehouse.

It sold the insulation to pensioner Michael Redman

who lives in the Cookridge area of Leeds.

A place where to stay warm, you need all the help you can get.

We're one of the highest points in Leeds.

We get a lot of fog. Get a lot of wind.

It's horrendous up here when winter comes.

We can have snow up here,

when you can go a mile down the road,

and people are walking around in T-shirts.

It is so cold in winter.

And it's not just the elements which the residents have to contend with.

Much of the post-war housing here

is poorly insulated and can't easily be improved.

Houses are solid wall.

There is no cavity.

So, you can't put insulation inside.

Which is where a special type of insulation

called thermal cladding comes in.

It involves adding a whole new shell to the outside of the house.

It's like wrapping your house in a rather large blanket.

Hoping to keep his house warm, and cut down his bills,

Michael decided to buy thermal cladding

from local company The Green Deal Warehouse.

We had a choice of two firms that we could have gone with.

And we just decided to go with the first telephone number

which happened to be Green Deal.

Now we wished we hadn't.

The job meant also replacing his doors and windows

and the work got off to a good start.

But the progress would prove to be short-lived.

We paid £1,000 deposit.

They came out within a week to fit the new windows and doors.

They said we're coming back to do the insulation the scaffolding

and everything within the next fortnight.

And that was the last time we saw Green Deal Warehouse

for five months.

And it wasn't for lack of trying.

Michael called time and again

to try and arrange for the main work to begin.

They kept telling us that the scaffolding

was going to be coming next week.

Never came.

Ring up again. "Coming in another week's time."

Never came.

And it went on and on.

In the meantime, the windows and doors had been left half-finished.

So, far from keeping the heat in, the house was colder than ever.

You could actually look through the window frames. Not the glass.

Out into the street. Cos there were rather large holes.

And a lot of expanding foam.

It leaked if it rained.

It were draughty. It were an eyesore.

After months of phone calls and missed appointments,

Michael finally had enough and made one last call

to the boss of Green Deal Warehouse, James Kahn.

I said, "I'm cancelling it."

And straightaway Mr Kahn says, "You'll not get your deposit back."

I says, I'm not going to argue with you.

I'll see you in court, and put the phone down on him.

I think Mr Kahn thought I was joking.

But after spending £1,000 and five months exposed to the elements,

this was no laughing matter.

Michael got another company to complete the work

and took the Green Deal Warehouse to the County Court.

Although Mr Kahn did offer a defence,

he missed the hearing, and judgment was found against him.

He was ordered to pay Michael back his deposit, plus costs.

Not that it seemed to make any difference.

He just wouldn't pay.

We never saw a penny.

He just...totally ignored it.

Sheriff Chris Pearson is on his way to the Green Deal Warehouse

to try to get Michael his money back.

And as a fellow Northerner,

he has every sympathy with Michael's insulation nightmare.

You can get the snow up to two to three feet deep.

Can get a bit cold as well, to say the least.

So, if you're looking to get your property, your home, insulated,

it's got to be done correctly, I would say.

As Chris arrives, the business is open

and production seems to be in full swing.

But is Mr Kahn here?

Hello, mate.

Hello?

Is the boss in, mate, please?

Just up here, yeah? Cheers.

-Is Mr Kahn in, please?

-He's not mate, no.

Can you get him on the phone for me? I'm from the High Court.

-He's away, mate.

-Can you get him on the phone for us, mate?

Upstairs in the office, Chris explains the purpose of his visit.

There's been a writ issued, love, to seize company assets.

It's not for a great deal of money,

I'm sure we'll resolve it straight away.

The staff offer to contact the boss,

but they don't want our camera in the office.

-Could you all just go downstairs five minutes?

-Absolutely.

-I can wait down here, no problem.

-Yeah. Yeah, cheers for that.

But once downstairs, our cameraman's asked to leave altogether.

Chris remains inside to negotiate

and soon emerges to fill us in on what's going on.

The actual debtor is not there. Apparently, he's away on holiday,

but they are trying to get in touch with him at the minute.

So, hopefully, within a couple of minutes,

we'll get in touch with him, get this paid.

Until they can get hold of him,

there's no guarantee he'll agree to pay up.

But if he doesn't,

Chris is confident he's got plenty to fall back on.

Forklifts, windows, cars. There's all-sorts in there.

Hopefully they'll pay,

but if they don't there seems to be more than enough to cover the debt.

Back inside, the staff manage to make contact with Mr Kahn abroad

and break the news that a High Court sheriff is on the doorstep.

Mr Kahn says that the case is still in dispute,

but Chris explains that he's got a High Court writ

and so the debt to Mr Redman needs to be paid now.

Soon enough, Chris is heading back to his car.

So, what's the news?

Mr Kahn was away on holiday, but we managed to contact him by phone.

And he's agreed to pay the full amount.

It's a textbook job for the sheriffs.

That was one of the better ones.

Yeah. If they could all go like that, it'd be fantastic.

Unfortunately, they don't.

Michael Redman will now get his lost deposit back.

We've received a cheque for a total of £1,246.73

and I think they've done a superb job for us.

The Green Deal Warehouse told us,

"The work on Mr Redman's house was subject to a voucher scheme and was

"delayed due to a government backlog in processing the applications.

"Mr Redman was offered a number of start dates which he refused

"because they weren't convenient."

The company says it was unable to attend the court hearing due

to work commitments.

And the reason they didn't pay the debt is that they never

received the letter from the court.

Sheriff Ken Warby is at a car dealer's in Walthamstow,

where he's chasing a debt of £5,000.

BD Trades Sales Ltd sold a car to Tarsem Kainth

and when it broke down, didn't give him a refund.

Ken is dealing with the director's brother,

who says he's trying to raise the money.

But after a lot of waiting around, Ken has run out of patience.

I've just been kept waiting.

And fed a load of rubbish at the moment.

Saying, "Give me five minutes, give me five minutes,

"I need to make a few phone calls." Nothing's happened.

Going to phone the office now,

organise a transporter to come down, remove one or two of these vehicles.

As Ken gets ready to make the call,

the director's brother makes a last-ditch attempt

to put on the brakes.

Sorry, mate.

Mate.

But Ken's heard enough of this argument already.

Hello, Wayne.

It's Ken Warby.

Look, I need a transporter down in Walthamstow.

If you could get down here as soon as possible.

About 40 minutes? Nice one, mate, appreciate it. Cheers. Bye.

All the stalling has cost the debtor dearly.

The fees sheriffs charge are set by the government

and now that the transporter is on its way, the final bill has shot up.

£5,075...

to a, erm... To a whopping £6,700.

And counting.

But no sooner than the call is made,

the boss' brother says a friend is on his way with the cash.

It is the larger amount now, unfortunately.

I called the transporter, mate. It's on its way.

Just left the yard.

But you just....

Mate, it's not.

It's been like an hour and a half

since that first five minutes, do you remember?

Yeah.

I did warn ya. I had a coffee, we chatted.

Still nothing happened. The five minutes became an hour and a half.

Enough's enough.

Yeah, that's not enough now. It needs to be the full amount.

It makes no difference.

As soon as I tell the office,

"They're not paying" and that I need a transporter, these fees go on.

No.

The man said a friend was coming and sure enough one soon turns up.

Only it doesn't look like this guy's in the mood to hand over any cash.

-Move your camera from here.

-I'm on the street.

-Move your camera from here. Move. Move.

-Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi.

-Move.

-Oi, pal. Seriously...

You think you can come in here and start bullying people?

I'll get my people here right now.

-Why you

-BLEEP

-come here try bully the man? Huh?

-I'm not trying to bully...

-Why you come here to bully the man?

Mate, I'm not trying to bully anybody.

-I'll get my

-BLEEP

-pals here. Move that camera from here.

I'm on the public street. I'm on the public street.

Move away from my premises.

Ken has seen enough.

Police, please.

Someone has been physically threatening.

He's just suddenly come in to the car yard.

I would like someone here to prevent the breach of the peace.

I think they knew I was on the phone to the police

and they've sort of like disappeared,

so I'm in the car yard on my own at the moment.

But not for long, as the men soon return.

Move that camera away from me. Move that camera away from me.

Yeah, that's it, good boy. Yes, sir.

Why you coming in here and start bullying the man?

Why you doing that for?

I'll get my pals here and we'll see who's going to bully who.

If that's the way you wanna do it.

Has this gentleman just told you I was bullying him?

Well, that's the approach you've come along.

"Oh, we're going to do that, we're going to remove cars."

Come on, mate.

-Can I just ask who you are?

-Khan, Mr Khan.

-Mr Khan.

-Mr Khan.

-And what involvement...?

-Listen, forget that involvement.

Tell him to switch that camera off.

-Otherwise he's going to be in a lot of trouble.

-Listen.

Tell him to switch that camera off.

If you want I can go talk to him personally.

Mate, switch that off, or I'll take that off you.

-Mate, you won't be doing that.

-No, no. Don't tell me that.

Why are you recording?

Just as the situation is spiralling out of control,

the police arrive, and Mr Khan makes himself scarce.

Meanwhile, the director's father has also arrived.

And he's brought cash.

Yep.

OK. I understand what you're saying.

The father is willing to pay his son's original bill,

but not the extra fees which were added

when the transporter was called.

But as far as Ken's concerned,

this is a situation entirely of their own making.

Did I not warn you earlier that this would happen?

The police would turn up, the transporter would turn up,

it'd be like a scene out of Beadle's About and here we are.

Are you able to settle the full amount with the gentleman?

No.

The father isn't budging.

OK. He is not willing to accept that. That's what he's saying.

But it will be here soon

and you've got sufficient goods in the yard to cover the debt.

But the son still thinks these cars can't be taken.

And now with the police in attendance,

he's hoping he can convince them of his side of the story.

-You've got a High Court writ for BD Trade Sales.

-Yes.

These cars, they belong to me, they belong to Blue Diamond Garages.

That's what I was trying to explain to you and you weren't listening.

-I hear what you're saying.

-Yeah.

-And so does this gentleman.

-Yeah.

But what happened is he's been issued

with a court writ for these premises.

-For BD Trade Sales.

-OK. I hear what you're saying.

But these cars are here, on these premises.

You got a big sign up there.

If you've got 6,600 and whatever it is,

then I would suggest you pay it.

Then you can go to court.

If it is proved in your favour, you will get reimbursed.

If you choose not to pay back today, these guys can take the cars.

With the policewoman delivering the final verdict,

father and son realise the game is up.

-What we at?

-6,708... Just shy of seven grand.

Is what we said earlier on we needed to avoid.

The father reluctantly agrees to pay

and hands over the full total in cash.

At the same time, the transporter arrives and is sent on its way.

They think it's all over... It is now.

Well, I did tell you earlier on it was like one-all at half-time.

But, erm... 2-1 to the sheriffs.

Much to the father's disapproval.

This is very unfair system here.

Because the case is still in the court.

But nevertheless, to finish this matter off,

I didn't want any aggravation with no-one.

I paid the sheriffs, now we will claim it back.

The case never went back to court.

And Tarsem Kainth has got back the money he was rightfully owed.

In the south-east, Enforcement Agents Lawrence Grix and Kev McNally

are in Kent. And their prospects of getting paid today

are looking pretty good.

The company they're going to is definitely still trading,

and it specialises in classic-car restoration.

We're in Ashford. We're going to Xtreme Jaguar Restorations Ltd.

They owe £3,161.

They soup up and restore old Jaguars.

Xtreme Jaguar was taken to court by a supplier.

Mr Gannon, who is the director of Xtreme Jaguar Ltd,

he was actually in court to defend the hearing with his solicitor.

He's not going to be able to say he's not aware of this.

Mr Gannon didn't pay what he was ordered to by the court.

And now the sheriffs are heading his way.

One of them in particular can't wait.

I do like my Jags. Always have done. I got one about a year ago.

Mine is like a metallic British racing green.

I've always loved the shape of the Jag.

There's just something about them.

Never seen him as excited about a job.

It's probably about as good as it gets for him.

As for getting paid, the Jaguars themselves are likely

to be out of the equation...

What we're going to find here I would imagine

is most of the actual cars belong to customers.

Parts, tools is the main thing we'll be looking for.

But will they need to take anything, or will the garage pay up?

Time to find out.

-Hi, there.

-Hi, there.

-How are you doing?

-Fine.

We're enforcement agents. We've got a High Court writ

against Xtreme Jaguar Restorations Ltd.

We're ordered here today to take control of goods

to the value of £3,161.14.

-£3,100 and...?

-£61.14.

Right, well, first of all, what's the camera for?

At this point our cameraman's asked to leave.

Inside, Lawrence tells Mr Gannon that the outstanding debt

needs to be paid today.

Shortly afterwards our camera's let back in,

only to find Lawrence and the owner talking shop.

Ah.

-So, I've just built all...

-Oh, it's lovely.

That is just gorgeous. I've got an X300.

It's the last of the 3.2s cos I wanted a straight 6.

I didn't want a V8.

It's lucky it's the sheriffs' last job of the day

because they could be here a while.

So, he's just showing Lawrence around the workshop at the moment.

He knew Lawrence was pretty keen to look round here,

so he's giving him a guided tour.

And Lawrence is geeking him out with information over there,

showing off that he knows a little bit about it.

So, let him have his moment. He's loving it over there.

Back to the writ in question.

Lawrence wants to know if any of these cars belong to the garage.

I'm guessing these are customers' cars, aren't they?

They're all customers' cars.

They are, which mean they can't be removed by the sheriffs,

or used as leverage to get payment.

But it doesn't look like that will be necessary, anyway.

You can pay online with a card,

-we've got a secure online payment system.

-Yeah.

Or you can go online and do a bank transfer.

Mr Gannon is willing to pay £1,100 today.

And says he'll clear the rest of the debt tomorrow.

-There you go.

-OK.

Mr Gannon tells us his side of the story.

He says the dispute arose from a respray job on an E-Type Jaguar.

The paint shop involved sent me a sample of the paint, which is this.

And based on that being the correct colour,

I sent the car to the paint shop to be resprayed.

Mr Gannon claims that when the car came back, the colour wasn't right.

So, he refused to pay the full cost of the job,

and instead made an offer for part payment.

He wouldn't accept it. We went to court.

Sadly, the magistrate involved couldn't see the concept

of how much it was going to cost to respray a complete E-Type.

She did however find in my favour and knocked some off the bill,

but nowhere near enough.

She only knocked £1,000 off and anybody who's in this industry

will tell you you're looking at a minimum of £6,000

to respray an E-Type.

The reason I didn't pay it was purely on principle.

But the court made its decision

and Mr Gannon has tried to ignore it.

As a result he's now facing a higher bill, with extra charges and fees.

As he seems willing to pay,

Lawrence and Kev are happy to leave with £1,100 for the time being.

But they do list a couple of vehicles

belonging to the company, just in case.

What they've got outside, they've got a recovery vehicle.

A sort of 7.5-tonne van and they've also got a transit van, as well.

So, between the two vans there, there's more than enough

to cover the little that's left owing.

-Cheers.

-All right, thanks very much.

It's job done for the sheriffs.

And the moral of the story is that a court's decision is final.

The judge said, this is how much you've got to pay.

So, that's what we have to do, we have to enforce the writ.

So, we've taken what we could get today, which is £1,100.

We've got a controlled goods agreement signed for the full balance

by close of business tomorrow.

The guys have come today. They're just doing a job.

So yes, I'm quite happy to pay it.

It's unfortunate, but I'll just have to chalk it up to experience.

And for Lawrence,

it's been a bit of case of mixing business with pleasure.

If I had to pick one from in here, that would be it, I think.

Oh, it would have to be.

I'd love to own some of the cars that are in there.

But hey ho, I've got my cheap old run-around, and that will do me

and I picked up a bit of advice while I was in there, as well.

So, happy days.

Xtreme Jaguar Restorations Limited paid the remaining balance,

and the paint shop got the money they were owed.