Episode 1 The Sheriffs Are Coming

If you're owed money but aren't getting paid, it's time to call the sheriffs.

I'm 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 that 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're allowed 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 someone from G4S.

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

I'm not going anywhere. You get him to come here.

We'll not be waiting around like that. It needs to be done now.

Just collected 42 grand.

Coming up...

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

-Move.

-Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi.

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 Redmond's house

was left exposed to the elements after an insulation job

was abandoned halfway through.

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

Sheriff Chris Pearson pays a visit but can the company take the heat?

Is the boss in, mate? Can you get him on the phone for me?

When the boss of a bag manufacturer refuses to pay,

Lawrence has to take extreme measures.

Is anybody here capable of backing up the computers?

Because I will start unplugging them.

And dental hygienist Paula Ball didn't get paid

while working for G4S...

It is a huge company.

Why didn't they just pay?

..so Lawrence and Kev visit one of Britain's biggest security firms.

But can they get her money?

We have a High Court writ so we don't have to take any notice

of your security protocol, I'm afraid.

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 Sale Limited and it is an

individual that has taken them to court for just over four grand.

BD Trade Sales Limited were taken to court by 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 and 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.

-Thank you, bye.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-BD Trade Sales Limited.

I'm here regarding a High Court writ of control

against BD Trade Sales from a Mr Tarsem Kainth.

Why have you got the camera? The camera can 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?

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

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 Limited.

That would mean Ken can't remove them.

But he is 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 provide invoices which appear

to back up his story but, for Ken, it is still not enough.

Because there are no actual bank transfers

and no solicitor's 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 Limited, 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, no, 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

and unfortunately we are at an impasse.

I'll just make the phone call, 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,

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

If it was a football match, it's like a 1-1 draw at the moment.

Going into half-time, it's like 1-1 but I know we'll come out stronger

in the second half and get full payment and win the game.

Later in the programme...

-Move that camera for me.

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

Why are you coming in here and start bullying the man?

What are 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 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 £60,

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.

Central London,

and enforcement agents Lawrence Grix and Kev McNally are battling their

way through the morning traffic.

They've got a High Court writ

against one of the country's biggest security firms.

We're actually going to G4S, we're going to their main building.

Obviously famous for providing the security for the Olympics.

Often, smaller debts can be missed by large corporations,

but that's not an excuse the sheriffs will accept

and G4S owes £1,100 to a contractor.

Dental hygienist that did work for them in a prison in East Yorkshire.

She did five sessions and hasn't been paid for them.

Open really wide.

That dental hygienist is Paula Ball.

For nine years, she worked regular sessions

in the Wolds Prison near Hull,

where G4S had the contract to provide health care.

It was work which Paula loved.

It was very, very rewarding.

Most of the patients hadn't seen a dentist for many years.

Their teeth were not in the best condition.

They were very, very pleased at seeing a hygienist.

It changed my perception of prison life, to be quite honest.

But when G4S lost the contract,

the new health-care providers didn't want to hire a hygienist,

so the work dried up.

To make matters worse, G4S never paid Paula for her final sessions.

This became beyond a joke.

Money from March still hadn't been paid by July.

Paula was owed nearly £1,400

and, despite repeatedly chasing up the payments,

the money never arrived.

I sent e-mails, I spoke to people on the phone.

Difficult to speak to people on the phone

cos you get a different person each time.

Whether I just got lost in the system I don't know.

Paula had assumed that if she persisted, then,

sooner or later, G4S would pay up

but, as the months went by, her patience ran out.

She began to realise the only way she was going to get paid was if she

took some kind of legal action.

I think I just got the bit between my teeth

that this really was unfair.

I still have bills to pay, like everybody else.

It was quite scary taking on a company as big as them.

So I was talking to a friend one evening and she said,

"Oh, you should try Money Claims Online."

Money Claims Online is a government website that allows consumers

to lodge their case with the County Court.

Paula filed her claim against G4S

and, while the company initially said they'd defend it, they didn't.

Paula was awarded a judgment in her favour, ordering

the company to settle the debt.

I then thought that they would pay up...

..but they didn't.

I really couldn't believe it.

I thought, "What on earth are they playing at?"

This is a huge company!

It's just unbelievable.

Just when Paula had given up hope,

she received an e-mail out of the blue from G4S

to say they'd made a payment of £825.

They never explained why it was less than what she was owed

and Paula didn't appear to have received it.

They said they'd paid it,

and there was no record of it going into my account.

And then they discovered they'd tried to pay it into the wrong

account, an account that doesn't exist.

Eventually, they did pay £825 into my bank account.

Whether it was to shut me up or to stop the process I don't know.

Paula's still been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket

and, having had to fight to get this far, she's not about to give up.

I have worked for that money and I've earned it

so I will go after the remaining balance.

And, left with no other alternative, that means turning to the sheriffs.

I can think of no other way of retrieving the money.

I'm a bit at a loss and this is the last hope.

It's now up to them to see what they can do.

In the capital, Lawrence and Kev are on their way to see G4S.

They're confident of getting paid...

though they are expecting that the sheer size of the company

might complicate matters.

Just getting them to recognise the claimant and find the claimant in

their system is normally half the battle with big companies like this.

Another challenge is parking in Central London.

This time Lawrence thinks he's got lucky,

but he might be getting ideas above his station.

Diplomatic cars only?

That's handy.

The G4S office is in a shared block and the first challenge for Lawrence

and Kev will be getting past reception.

Morning. My name is Mr Grix.

My colleague and I are enforcement agents.

We're here to see somebody from G4S.

Grix.

We're not meeting with anybody,

we're here to execute a High Court writ against G4S.

-Are they on floor five, yeah?

-We'll just go up.

But the reception staff have other ideas.

No, we just go up.

We have a High Court writ so we don't have to take any notice of

your security protocol, I'm afraid.

If you want to phone them

and your phone call gets through before we do, that's fair enough.

Lawrence and Kev have got past the security firm's security with ease.

Upstairs, and it's reception number two.

Morning. My name is Mr Grix.

My colleague and I are enforcement agents.

We've got a High Court writ to execute against G4S,

so I'd imagine we need to speak to someone either in your accounts

or your legal department, please.

Yeah.

The sheriffs are asked to wait while staff make inquiries.

This is about the biggest security company in the country, isn't it?

-Yeah, turnover of nearly seven billion.

-That's a few quid.

So, they should be able to cover the £1,100 they owe today,

provided they can find the right person to deal with that.

Hello.

No. We've just got G4S.

We haven't got a division specifically.

As Lawrence predicted, no-one seems quite sure who the right person is

to deal with the sheriffs' unannounced arrival,

let alone finding details of the claimant.

But, within a few minutes, someone more senior arrives.

Oh, hello.

Our cameraman's told to leave the building

while Lawrence and Kev stay inside,

trying to persuade G4S to pay Paula's missing wages.

An hour and a half later, they emerge.

I don't think they actually managed to find out what it was about.

They're such a big organisation with so many different branches

and so many subcontractors,

they didn't actually bother to try and find our claimant on the system.

Basically, they just went away and arranged the transfer

and they're going to look into where it went wrong later on and

kick the appropriate person up the posterior, probably.

Bit boring sitting there for sort of the best part of two hours waiting

for somebody to manage to do a bank transfer,

but a success is a success.

The sheriffs have been paid in full

and, back in Yorkshire, Paula Ball is delighted.

I would like to thank the sheriffs.

They've done a very good job.

Very relieved that it's all over now

and that the money's actually in my bank account.

And I would like to say to people,

don't be intimidated by doing something like this

and taking on a large company.

It can work out and you can get your money back.

G4S told us that they...

..for her services.

The company has been making...

However, they say the...

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

where he's chasing a debt of £5,000.

BD Trade 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...

a whopping £6,700...

..and counting.

But no sooner than the call is made,

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

It is the larger amount now, unfortunately.

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

Just left the yard.

Mate, it's not. It's been, like,

an hour and a half since that first five minutes. Do you remember?

I did warn you. 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 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!

-Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, pal!

Think you can come in here and start bullying people?

I'll get my people here right now.

-BLEEP

-come here and try and bully the man?

-Huh?

-I'm not trying to bully him.

-You came here to bully the man.

-I'm not trying to bully anybody.

-Get my

-BLEEP

-pals here. Move that camera from 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 into the car yard.

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

I think they knew I was on the phone to the police and they've sort of

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 are you coming in here and starting bullying the man?

What are 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 want to 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. Forget that involvement.

Tell him to switch that camera off or he'll 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.

-I will take that off you.

-Mate, you won't be doing that.

No, no, no, don't tell me that.

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.

Yeah.

OK. 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.

I did explain to this person loads of times that

if I had to call the transporter, a lot of fees go on there.

-Yeah.

-I was patient over two hours but, in the end, enough's enough,

I've called the transporter, a load of fees have gone on there.

I can't reverse that. Did I not warn you earlier this would happen?

-No.

-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.

-You're happy to settle it?

-The full amount?

-The full amount?

The father isn't budging.

OK.

He is not willing to accept that, that is 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.

-But 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 and so does this gentleman,

but what happens is he has 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 this premises,

you've 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 it back today, these guys can take the cars.

With the policewoman delivering the final verdict,

father and son realise the game is up.

-What are we at?

-6-7-0-8.

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 1-1 at half-time,

but, erm...

-2-1 to the sheriffs.

-Much to the father's disapproval.

This is a 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.

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 Khan.

It's a sum of £1,587 owed for, which I believe is insulation,

which was either incorrectly fitted or it wasn't fitted at all.

Mr Khan runs a company called the Green Deal Warehouse.

It sold the insulation to pensioner Michael Redmond, 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 wish 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 had 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 Khan.

I said, "I'm cancelling it,"

and straightaway, Mr Khan 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 Khan 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 Khan 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.

Never saw a penny.

He just...

totally ignored it.

Which left Michael with few options other than to turn to the sheriffs,

something which he had no qualms about doing.

It's the right thing to do, and I'm not...

I'm not that type of person...

..what's going to sit back and let him get away with it.

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

to try and get Michael his money back.

And, as a fellow northerner,

he has every sympathy with Michael's insulation nightmare.

Where I live, it's on the coast. It's not too bad.

Come to the hilly districts,

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

It 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 Khan here?

Hello, mate.

Hello?

Is the boss in, mate, please?

Just up here? Cheers.

Is Mr Khan in, please?

Can you get him on the phone for me? From the High Court.

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 looking to seize company assets.

It's not for a great deal of money.

I'm sure he'll resolve it straightaway.

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'll wait down here.

-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 himself 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 and 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 Khan abroad and

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

Mr Khan 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 Redmond needs to be paid now.

Soon enough, Chris is heading back to his car. So what's the news?

Mr Khan 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 would be fantastic.

Unfortunately, they don't.

Michael Redmond will now get his lost deposit back.

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

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

The Green Deal Warehouse told us...

..in processing the applications.

Mr Redmond was offered a number of start dates, which he...

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.

In the capital, Lawrence and Kev

are heading into the heart of the West End.

They're on their way to a job

that's going to turn out to be trickier than expected.

We're in the middle of town today, going into Soho.

We're actually going to Soho Restaurants Limited

and it is a restaurant we're going to.

They owe £5,259 for cleaning services that have been

provided to the restaurant that haven't been paid for.

To recover the money it's owed,

the cleaning company has taken the restaurant to court

and won a default judgment

when the case wasn't defended.

The sheriffs are eager to try and get it paid

and the snail-paced traffic en route to the job is trying their patience.

Absolutely abysmal.

I detest driving in Central London.

Eventually, they pull into the right road.

-Parking suspended.

-Can't park here.

-It's that one on the corner.

-Oh, yeah, I'll just wait here.

Cos we're not getting a ticket as well as sitting in traffic all day.

The company they're looking for is based at a restaurant

called Maison Touareg. Lawrence makes his introductions.

-Hello there.

-Hi.

I'll show you some ID.

My name's Mr Grix.

I'm an enforcement agent.

Are you the boss at all?

Are you able to get him on the phone?

I'm here with a High Court writ.

I'll explain it to your boss on the phone.

Moments later, the staff member returns with the phone

and Lawrence gets straight to the point.

Hello, sir. I'm here today with a High Court writ

against Soho Restaurants Limited.

I'm ordered to take control of goods to the value of £5,259.59.

But he's not expecting the boss's response.

Right...

The boss says he owes thousands for unpaid business rates.

Another debt collection company has already executed a writ and taken

control of all the goods here.

It would be one of the more inventive excuses Lawrence has heard

if it's not true, but he needs to make sure.

Right. Have you got a copy of that here?

As it stands at the moment, unless I see copies of this paperwork,

then I'm going to take control of the goods.

The man says it's obvious he can't pay.

Lawrence isn't so sure.

If you're telling me you can't pay today,

that's what you're telling me,

but it's not obvious to me that you can't pay today.

If the goods have already been taken into control by someone else,

Lawrence can't touch them.

That means he won't have much leverage to get the debt paid,

and he might have to walk out empty-handed.

While the staff member goes to see if he can find the paperwork,

Lawrence makes some inquiries of his own.

I'm going to make a phone call.

The world of High Court enforcement is a small one,

and Lawrence knows just about everyone in the business.

All right, Dave. How are you? I was just phoning

cos I think I'm on your... Well, I am on your patch.

The other agent confirms

his company's already been to the restaurant,

just as the staff member brings through the paperwork.

Lawrence can only hope they've left something valuable off the list.

Right, OK.

It basically lists everything that's in here.

All the tables, chairs, cookers, fridges - everything, really.

So nothing left for me, unfortunately, on this occasion.

Lawrence gets back on the phone to the restaurant's boss.

Right, I've seen all the paperwork,

so what I'll do, I'll leave paperwork here

with the amount that's owing

and contact details for me and an e-mail address for the office.

He's hoping that the boss

will come to an arrangement to pay at least something...

Give me a buzz with how much you want to pay.

..but he's not optimistic...

Thank you. Bye-bye. There you go.

..and with good reason.

The outstanding debt on the other one for business rates

is enormous compared to ours, so obviously he's paying that off.

He wants to pay ours off so I've left paperwork there

and he said he'll give me a ring later today

with what he proposes to pay.

Unfortunately, with no goods to take control of, your hands are tied.

The restaurant boss didn't enter into a payment agreement

later that day and, to date,

the debt with the cleaning company has not been settled.

Sheriffs are now officially known as High Court enforcement agents

and they'll collect the money you're owed.

My job is to collect in full or remove goods.

They've got more powers of entry than bailiffs...

We don't have to take any notice of your security protocol, I'm afraid.

..and there's no limit on the size of the debts they can pursue.

£1.6 million.

Every year, sheriffs enforce more than 70,000 writs

across England and Wales

and recover more than £75 million.

I'm here today to take control of goods to the value of £41,086.

We have to insist on full payment.

Their fees are set by the Government,

which debtors have to pay on top of what they already owe.

Thank you very much. See you later.

If the sheriffs can't recover any of your money,

there's a fee of £75 plus VAT.

Many of the sheriffs' cases arise from the sale of second-hand cars

and, just outside Stockport,

sheriff Alan Pennington is about to enforce a typical case

against a company called Cheadle Car Sales Limited.

The premises we're going to is on a retail estate.

I'm not really sure who I'm going to meet, what assets they've got.

Cheadle Car Sales was taken to the County Court by a customer

who had bought a car they weren't happy with.

They won the case and the company was ordered

to give them a refund plus costs.

Eight weeks later, it still hasn't.

So now, with a High Court writ in his hand,

Alan is going to try to get the customer's money back.

Cheadle Car Sales, here we are.

Hello, fellas. Hello. I'm an enforcement agent.

I'm here to issue a High Court writ.

Is there anyone I can speak to?

-Is that camera on? Going on telly, isn't it?

-Yeah.

At the sight of Alan and our camera,

the boss of Cheadle Car Sales, Mr Cawley, makes an appearance.

Yeah, what's it about?

Can I come and have a chat with you in the office?

Yeah, without the camera, yeah.

Our camera's asked to leave

and, while Alan talks to Mr Cawley in his office,

the staff of Cheadle Car Sales start to show us a bit of cheek.

In fact, a lot of it.

Inside the garage, the boss is refusing to pay...

unless, that is, a certain condition is met,

as Alan explains to his office.

Basically, he wants to know what vehicle it is

and he's not going to pay until he gets that vehicle back.

I told him, "I'm not here to give you your vehicle back,

"I'm here to issue a High Court writ."

Anticipating a standoff,

Alan tells the office he might need some backup.

There's about eight of them here and, unless the police arrived,

I don't really want to get involved unless the police are here.

OK, thanks a lot.

All right, cheers.

And while the boss leaves to run an errand, Alan mulls over his options.

He's only going to pay if the car's returned.

He's going to come back and then we'll go through

the process of either having to call the police to assist me...

..and a low-loader to take vehicles away,

so we'll find out in the next 10 or 15 minutes

when the gentleman comes back.

But when Mr Cawley returns, he hasn't changed his stance.

He now says he offered to fix the customer's car

when it first went wrong and he still wants the vehicle returned

as a point of principle before he'll pay a penny.

As this isn't covered by the court order,

he's got no right to demand this

but, as it could be a way of avoiding an ugly showdown,

Alan thinks it's worth a shot and gets the claimant on the phone.

He's happy to pay out the full amount of money on the claim

if the car comes back.

What do you think?

The claimant says the car is undriveable and won't return it

but, as it's currently abandoned on their driveway,

they're willing for it to be picked up at the garage's expense.

All right. No problem. Thanks. Bye-bye.

Alan heads in to tell Mr Cawley that's the best he can do.

All right, do you want to come...?

He'll either have to pay his debt

and collect the claimant's vehicle himself

or else lose another car from his forecourt.

It has the desired effect.

Mr Cawley agrees to the deal but, yet again, there's a catch.

His partner is in hospital and she has the bank details and apparently

runs the admin side of the business.

So he can't pay today and is asking Alan to come back tomorrow.

It sounds like another excuse but, given the situation,

Alan thinks, on this occasion,

it's worth giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The gentleman is happy to pay.

I didn't see the point of any further confrontation

so we've agreed to meet and, if that's the case tomorrow,

all will be well and done and the case will be closed.

Leaving without payment today might look like another bum deal

from the garage, but Alan's pragmatism pays off.

The following morning, Mr Cawley settled in full as promised.

The car was picked up from the customer

and they got their money back.

This morning, sheriffs Tommy Coyle and Craig Wild

are in the Black Country.

We're off to West Bromwich this morning with regards to

two employment tribunal cases against the same company.

The company itself is Enable UK Midlands Limited.

The director of the company is an Amjad Mahmood.

One is for £5,100 and the other one is for £11,700.

Enable UK Midlands Limited provides supported living services for

the disabled and elderly.

In 2015, the Care Quality Commission

described its services as "not always safe"

and the leadership as "inadequate".

Now, two former staff members have won employment tribunal cases

for breaches of contract and unpaid wages.

Today, the sheriffs are instructed

to collect a total of nearly £17,000.

Whatever amount we collect today, we will split the money equally

to each case so they will both get a share

and hopefully also an arrangement in place to pay the rest off for them.

The job is the same with two writs as with one

and the first step, as always, is to find the boss.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-I'm trying to get in contact with Enable UK Limited.

-Can I help you? Take a seat.

-In the waiting room? OK.

They said can we just wait in the waiting room for a minute.

A bit of courtesy, we will do that.

But once we've explained the situation to them,

they need to pay it or we'll carry on and do our job,

which is take control of goods.

After a minute's wait, a man comes in to talk to them.

Hello, sir.

You what, sorry?

Is Amjad about?

My name is Mr Wild.

We're here today with two High Court writs

for employment tribunal liabilities.

The total outstanding is £16,962.03.

Well, we're not leaving until we're paid.

That's the order from the court.

We can do you some account details to pay now, if you want them.

Speak to Amjad first and I'll have a chat with him.

-They ain't got the money.

-They ain't got the money, no.

Although happy to wait if it looks like they're going to get paid,

Craig's patience isn't going to last long.

I think his attitude was that

we're going to leave some letters and walk away, but we don't,

not when it gets to this stage.

We have the power and the authority to walk around this premises

and that's what we'll be doing.

The man comes back, but he's not been able to get through

to the director Amjad Mahmood.

Well, we'll come up anyway

cos we need to see where you're trading from.

No, we're not going to sit here.

Where are you trading from, office-wise?

-We'll come and have a look, cos obviously...

-We can.

-We can,

we have the authority to do so.

I've shown you my identification.

I've showed you mine and I can show you it again.

-We're not waiting here now.

-We can't wait here, sir.

While Craig investigates what's upstairs,

Tommy heads into the office.

Before he can do anything, however,

our camera attracts the attention of the men present.

I'm going to go outside, OK?

We leave and continue filming from the road.

Inside, staff tell Craig and Tommy

that they haven't seen Amjad Mahmood for three weeks

and that there are three other companies in the building who,

between them, own all the goods.

Sheriffs are entitled to carry out

a diligent search for information pertaining to their writ

and, as they hunt through paperwork in the office,

Craig and Tommy discover that not only is Mr Mahmood director

of at least one of the other companies in the building,

but they also find a document listing many of the office goods

as the property of Enable UK Midlands Limited.

Tommy comes out to fill us in.

Yeah, it got a bit heated initially inside the building.

There's four separate companies operating within there,

all claiming not to know the director of our company,

which we started to find out is not true.

We started finding more and more paperwork of our company.

Obviously got them a bit irate.

They started to realise we're not just going to go away.

With Tommy confident at least some of the goods belong to the company

on their writ, the staff in the office were out of options.

So, the game's more or less up at this point.

The more of that information we gather, you see them breaking down

and they've come to a deal, which is they're going to pay 6,900.

We're going to do a controlled goods agreement until the rest of

the balance is paid on both orders.

Tommy heads back inside with the card machine

and he and Craig take payment. It's not long before they're back.

We've got a part payment today of £6,900

which brought the balance down to £10,000 exactly.

As time went by, we just kept finding more and more information

sort of contradicting what they were telling us.

They just ended up looking a bit silly in the end and I think

they realised that and we got the result we did.

They haven't seen Amjad since Christmas.

They don't know where he is, he's uncontactable and, ultimately,

Mr Amjad has got 48 hours to get in contact with our office,

otherwise we'll be back to obviously execute and complete the execution

of the court order.

Following the sheriffs' visit, Enable UK Midlands Limited

entered into a payment plan to clear the outstanding balance.

Further money was received.

However, two months later, the company was wound up,

leaving its debt to its former workers part paid.

It's half past 12 and, on the orders of the court,

Lawrence and Kev are on their way to collect another unpaid debt.

We're in London, we're going up to NW10.

We're going to go and find Supreme London Limited.

They owe £13,869, so a big debt on this one.

The address on the writ

leads them to a trading estate.

Is it in here? Is this where we're going?

Yeah. In here, 11 and 12, Supreme.

There's a sign on the wall but no clue as to what goes on inside.

For Lawrence, forewarned is forearmed and he checks the file.

"Involved in the sale of textiles, clothing, fur, footwear

"and leather goods, manufacture, importing and distribution

"of eco-friendly bags." It's not my bag.

The unit door is locked.

Lawrence rings the bell.

Hello? Supreme London Limited?

My name is Mr Grix. My colleague and I are enforcement agents.

We need to speak to somebody about a High Court writ.

OK.

The sheriffs are asked to wait.

Lawrence has already got a feeling about this job.

Always suspicious of businesses that don't have an open door.

He might be right, as five minutes later, no-one's let them in.

Becoming of the opinion that there's nobody rushing down to see us.

Lawrence doesn't take kindly to being made to hang around.

He's got the Supreme London office phone number in the file.

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

I've just buzzed up outside about five minutes ago

and spoke to a young man,

who I believe was going to try and contact somebody.

Somebody needs to come to the door and speak to me now

because I have the power to force entry to commercial premises.

I know somebody's in there. If nobody comes out and speaks to me,

I will be getting a locksmith and I will affect entry into the building.

No, I won't be waiting out here that long.

Apparently they're on the phone to directors and somebody will call me

in about 10 or 15 minutes, and I'm not happy about that.

Debtors don't always know the sheriffs

will let themselves in if need be.

It's a powerful bargaining tool against anyone who hopes

they might just go away if ignored.

We've confirmed that the company we're looking for is here

and there are people from that company inside

and they're not coming to the door so, if necessary,

I will call out a locksmith and we'll force entry to the building.

This time, however, his threat seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

Then, just when it's looking like they really might need to force

the door, an employee has arrived...

How you doing, mate?

You all right, buddy?

..and Lawrence and Kev follow him in.

They head upstairs to Supreme London's office,

which is a vast improvement on what Kev had expected.

Different to the outside. The outside looks pretty run-down,

not much is going on but, yeah, it's all happening up here.

A note pinned to the wall gives a hint of

why they've had so much trouble getting in the door.

But even now he's appeared unannounced in their office,

Lawrence is struggling to get anyone's attention.

Sorry, who is it that's actually in charge?

So who's in charge?

Somebody must be in charge at the moment.

None of the people present seem sure what to do.

So there's no managers here at all?

Right, so who's been trying to contact the director on the phone?

Who did I speak to from outside on the intercom?

But someone does get the company director on the phone.

Hello?

Lawrence is hoping that finally the message will sink in.

I have a High Court writ of control, which orders me to come here today

and take control of goods to the value of £13,869.92,

goods that can be sold at auction to clear this debt.

But even he doesn't seem to understand

the importance of the writ.

No, I don't want to come back at all.

I will be executing the writ today.

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

The man doesn't want to come to the office.

You don't have to be here to pay.

You can log on to your bank and pay by online transfer or...

He doesn't want to do that either.

OK, then. OK, I'll carry on executing the writ

and call some lorries.

OK, I'll take things. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Not going to pay.

Having been locked outside the front door and kept waiting by the staff

in the office, Lawrence isn't in the mood to waste any more time,

and gets straight on the phone.

Can you see if Rob's available

with his 7.5-tonner with the tail lift, please?

Kev, meanwhile, is on the hunt for goods they could remove.

Unfortunately, there's not a great deal of assets here.

There's a lot going on in the office,

a lot of computers and furniture

but value-wise it's not particularly great.

A removal isn't ideal, so Kev tries to make the staff realise

they really do mean business,

in the hope the director will reconsider.

Everything you see will be gone, from stock to this, everything.

Literally. I mean, the whole place will be cleaned out

for the amount it is.

Yeah. Yeah, right now.

Lawrence adds his weight to the argument.

Is anybody here capable of backing up the computers?

Because I'm going to start unplugging them

because we're going to have to take them

because your boss isn't going to pay this.

With over 13,000 owed, they really will need to remove everything.

It's not the sheriffs' intent to stop a business trading

but sometimes there's no other option.

If it's all the company's got...

and they're not willing to pay

then you have to take what they have got and if it shuts them down,

it shuts them down. He was adamant he wasn't going to pay,

so you have to do what you have to do.

Removal of office goods is the last resort for the sheriffs

and the worst option for a debtor.

On top of the low value, they're bulky and expensive to remove

and will cost far more to replace

than they will ever sell for at auction.

Lawrence's growing pile by the doorway

seems to have finally had the effect he wanted.

Yeah, so we've been told there's a director on his way down now,

not far away.

But this belated move doesn't put him off his stride.

No, we're going to carry on to save time.

He said on the phone he wasn't going to pay,

so I'm not stopping what I'm doing just because he's turning up.

If he turns up and deals with it properly

then obviously there'll be no need for us to remove.

Moments later, the director arrives.

Are you the gentleman I spoke to on the phone?

My name is Mr Grix.

Where are we going to, sir?

Oh, right.

Lawrence is led into a meeting room

while our cameraman is asked to wait outside.

The director seems to now realise that the removal of

the entire contents of his office really is imminent

and that he'll need to find some money today to prevent it.

45 minutes later, the sheriffs reappear.

Despite keeping him waiting,

the director's managed to appease Lawrence.

As it happens, he was quite a nice chap.

There was photos of him with David Cameron,

Prince Charles, the Queen,

so obviously quite a well-to-do businessman

who mixes in the right circles.

He might have famous friends but he didn't have the full £13,869

that the sheriffs came for.

He did manage to pay £3,300

and he's got money clearing into his account tomorrow,

which he's going to do by Bacs over to us,

so we'll have the balance by Friday.

I think he'll probably do it but, either way,

the £3,300 we got was more than the value of anything in there.

It was fairly old computers, which go for nothing at auction,

and, other than that, there really wasn't much at all.

Bits and pieces of furniture,

but it certainly wouldn't have raised £3,300 at auction,

plus you'd have had the cost of removing it etc etc,

so it's best today just to get a controlled goods agreement,

get a partial payment and wait for the balance to come in on Friday.

In the end, it's a good result in difficult circumstances.

Supreme London Limited later cleared the balance

and the claimant has got their money back.