Episode 6 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.

DOORBELL RINGS

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'll 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 someone 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, Claire Yew wasn't paid her rent by a lettings agent.

He owed me about six months rent.

That was quite hard for me and my family because

I still had to pay the mortgage.

The sheriffs have an ultimatum for the manager.

I'm going to have to insist on half payment or I remove the goods.

Lawrence and Kev visit a technology company...

We are High Court Enforcement Agents.

We've got a High Court writ against SBE Ltd.

..which sets the alarm bells ringing.

ALARM BLARES

Mandy Springer was sold a car with a dangerous flaw.

This was the one where the wheel came off.

My grandson and I definitely could have been killed that day.

But the car dealers who sold it to her

aren't keen to pay for the repairs.

£1,140.62 pays us, gets her paid, and we're gone.

Uh, no.

And Ken is made to wait at the Post Office's headquarters.

I'm starting to lose my patience now.

I'm just going to dig my heels in and insist on full payment.

Sheriff Ken Warby is in east London

on his way to a lettings agent in Whitechapel.

Our claimant was letting a property through them

and the debtor has not released the money to our claimant.

We're going for approximately £8,500, including sheriff fees.

The lettings agent is called Hometrader Properties.

They owe money to full-time mum Claire Yew,

who found herself in dispute with the company

after deciding to buy a house to rent out.

I was looking for a house for a buy-to-let investment,

so I wanted somewhere as close to London as possible.

She managed to find what she thought would be

an ideal property in Plaistow -

not too far from Central London, but still affordable.

It is actually a three-bed terraced house

with two receptions and a basement,

so one reception can be used as a bedroom as well.

And it's close to all the amenities, the hospital and public transport.

Her offer on the property was accepted

and the sale went through quickly.

As there was already a tenant living there,

the seller made a suggestion.

The vendor discussed with me and said,

"Well, they have been good tenants," and he said,

"Currently, I've got a guaranteed rent contract

"with the managing agent and they pay me every month no problem,

"so why don't we just keep the tenant and save all the hassle?"

The tenancy had been managed by Hometrader Properties,

and its agent confirmed they'd be willing for Claire

to keep the existing tenant on the same terms.

They would get the guaranteed rent of 1,300 every month,

so it doesn't matter whether the tenants pay or not.

Since they organised everything for me and made it easy for me

and they told me that we don't have to pay anything,

I thought, "Well, why not?"

For the first few months, the rent was paid as promised,

but then payments began to be delayed,

with the man at Hometraders saying there were problems

with tenants' housing benefit.

He told me that because the tenant is on housing benefits,

the tenant's rent is actually paid by the council,

and apparently, the tenant did some part-time job over December

and she didn't put in some paperwork and, I don't know, some red tape.

So, anyway, they claimed that

the council had stopped giving them the rent.

And despite Claire's contract saying the rent would be guaranteed

no matter what, payments continued to lag behind.

It just dragged on and on and on,

and they kept telling me the same thing -

that it's not sorted out yet and,

"We're actually paying you out of my own money."

That's what he told me.

Although Hometrader Properties did make some payments,

the arrears continued to mount up.

He owed me about 9,000, which is about six months' rent.

That was quite hard for me and my family because

I still had to pay the mortgage that was going on all this time,

so I had to save up and stinge on certain aspects of our life

so that I would be able to pay for the mortgage

in order not to have the house repossessed.

Claire decided the only way to stop the situation getting worse

was to get the problem tenant evicted.

In the meantime, the agents made occasional payments,

but nowhere near what she was owed.

He told me, "Don't worry. I'm not going to cheat your money."

Then the tenant leaves.

"It'll be sorted out once the tenant leaves, right?"

So, the tenant left.

I went to see him and said, "OK, now the tenant has left,

"can I have my payment, please?"

And he started to give me more excuses.

"Just give me two weeks, I promise. Three weeks.

"We'll give you a payment in three weeks' time."

So, I tried calling him so many times.

Just to speak to him, I have to call, like, ten times a day

just to catch him, and then he'll say,

"Oh, I'll call you back tomorrow. I'll check this out."

And he never calls me back,

so that's when I decided to take him to court.

But while she was going through the court process,

Claire received some surprising news.

The council called me up to find out why I evicted the tenant

because the tenant was a bit upset,

and I told her it's because the agent hasn't paid the rent

for six months.

That's when I found out

that the council had been paying the rent

but it's just that, every month, they just deducted a little bit,

so that's when I found out

that he actually had the money all this time.

Claire won her case in court

after the agents didn't enter a defence.

The judge ordered them to pay back the money they owed to Claire.

He still didn't do anything. There was no response from him.

That's when I decided to escalate the case to the sheriffs

cos I've seen them on TV and they do really well.

They are my only hope of recovering the money for me.

In east London, Ken is on his way to Hometrader Properties

to get Claire's money back.

It's a large sum, but will there be enough assets to cover it?

There can be assets to seize at an estate agents, yeah.

Computers, printers. There's not usually a great deal,

but there's still usually a bit of office equipment there.

Right, I've found the place - it's there - but there's no parking,

surprise, surprise. You've got to watch the wardens.

They come out of the cracks of the pavement and do you.

I usually have it on me Bromleys pretty quick,

and get to my car before I get a ticket.

On your what, Ken?

Bromley-by-Bows - toes.

Spoken like a true Cockney.

The next rhyming slang we'll need is the one for pay up.

-Knock-knock. Hello.

-Hello.

Hi there. Can I speak to the person in charge, please?

Is that yourself, sir?

My name's Mr Warby from the Court's Sheriffs Office.

This is regarding a judgment against Hometrader Properties.

The man doesn't seem to recognise the details of the case,

but another staff member does.

Well, we're here as a result of

a writ of control from the High Court.

Ken shows his writ,

but the man says the matter is still in dispute

and he asks our cameraman to leave.

Inside, the boss tells Ken

that he is contesting the court's decision

and so he doesn't want to pay.

He says the matter is being dealt with

by his solicitor, Mr Haque,

and as his office is only next door, he asks Ken to come and see him,

but they don't get very far.

After you. After you.

After you, I insist.

I'll tell you what, I'm not going anywhere.

-You get him to come in here.

-The boss refused to leave first,

making Ken suspicious it's a ruse to lock him out of the shop.

I've changed my mind. I want to see him in here.

Mr Haque does come to the agents.

Our camera is invited back in to record the conversation.

Ken's now had a chance to survey the assets in the office,

and there's not much, so he offers a deal.

Total stands at 8,496.60.

What I'm prepared to do today is accept half this payment

from your client and give 14 days to pay the balance.

OK?

What I've done is I've taken a list, an inventory,

of assets at this address,

and providing I get a signed writ of control,

I'll give you that 14 days.

Mr Haque says the court lost his client's paperwork,

so he wants 14 days to make a new application

to challenge the judgment.

But the courts have issued Ken with a live writ,

which needs to be paid and no excuses.

As it stands at the moment, I'm here with this writ of control

and I'm going to have to insist on half payment.

I think I'm being more than reasonable.

The choice is your client either pays half of it

or I call up a removal van

and remove the goods on my list.

You can make a complaint, sir, if that's what you want to do.

Mr Haque's refusing to back down.

Instead, he wants to make a complaint.

Ken gets the office on the phone, but it's his turn to speak first.

-Hello, Jack. It's Ken.

-OVER PHONE:

-'Hello.'

Require a removal van, if possible. It's general office equipment.

Ken's ramped up the pressure, but Mr Haque's come out fighting.

OK, this is Jackie.

Mr Haque wrongly believes that Ken is exceeding his powers.

The office asks him to put his concerns in writing.

Thanks.

Mr Haque leaves and our camera is again asked to step outside.

While the boss mulls over the offer of half payment,

Ken continues to list the assets in the office,

but in the end, removing them isn't necessary.

Realising that the sheriffs have the law on their side,

the boss gives in.

They paid me half after some argument,

and I've got a controlled goods agreement

for them to pay the balance within 14 days.

The job went well. I listed the items in there.

If they were to go at auction,

you probably wouldn't get much more than a grand for them anyway.

And as for their solicitor Mr Haque's objections,

Ken isn't the least bit worried.

He seems to think that they should have 14 days

before they have to pay any money whatsoever.

I did tell him it was down to my discretion

and I wanted half payment there and then,

which is what I got.

Sure enough, Hometrader paid the final balance

and Claire Yew has got back the money she was owed.

I'm very happy about this cos I never expected anyone

to be able to recover the money from him,

but they managed to do it, so I'm very, very thankful to them.

The manager of Hometrader Properties says that...

He says he paid for maintenance work on the property

for which Ms Yew has never been charged.

And he says that the lettings agent

covered the legal costs

of the eviction totalling £1,280.

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.

Sheriffs Lawrence Grix and Kev McNally

are heading to Ashford in Kent.

We are going to SBE Ltd.

We're looking for a total of £2,325 today.

Our claimant is Extreme Clean Commercial Ltd.

The cleaning company successfully took SBE Ltd to the County Court

over an unpaid invoice.

After the debt still wasn't settled,

they've now transferred up to the High Court and got a writ.

The sheriffs don't know much about the details of the case,

but it does gives the pair the opportunity

to reflect on their own cleaning abilities.

I am quite tidy, actually, yeah.

I'm afraid my cleaning doesn't come up to scratch at home.

My garage is always tidy, everything's in its place.

That's my domain and people aren't allowed in there.

And it's not just Lawrence's garage that's spic-and-span.

In the van, too, his orderliness has impressed Kev.

We've got a first-aid kit, we've got a hammer around here

just in case the van turns upside down

and we need to smash a windscreen to get out.

-Doesn't have to be my van, does it?

-In case of a werewolf.

Could come across an accident at the side of the road

and somebody needs busting out their car.

If the apocalypse was to hit now,

we'd be all right in this van, that's all I'm saying.

There's everything in here you'd ever need.

LAWRENCE CHUCKLES

Fortunately, the apocalypse hasn't arrived

by the time they reach the business' premises.

There it is.

They don't know what SBE Ltd does,

or whether there'll be any assets to take.

The signs on the building don't give much away.

"Global Electronic Service Logistics Management."

Whatever that means.

But they'll soon find out.

-Oh, good morning.

-Morning.

Name's Mr Grix... My colleague and I are Enforcement Agents.

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

so we probably need to speak to somebody in legal or accounts.

But before reception can call anyone,

a woman comes down the stairs.

-Hi, there.

-Oh, hello.

-We are High Court Enforcement Agents.

We've got a High Court writ against SBE Ltd on behalf of

Extreme Clean Commercial Ltd.

We are here today to take control of goods to the value of £2,325.53.

Unfortunately, the bottom line is we have a High Court writ which

commands us to come here and take control of goods to clear the debt.

And the only way to prevent further action is to pay in full.

-Pay. Transfer.

-Transfer.

Yeah, sure.

The woman takes them upstairs but our camera is asked to leave.

Inside, things start to get complicated.

They've been joined by the managing director

and it seems the company isn't willing to just pay up after all.

The sheriffs have also realised there's a factory

at the back of the building, full of potential assets,

only the MD won't let them in.

When Lawrence demands access, the staff set off the alarms.

ALARM BLARES

Moments later, the police arrive.

What should have been a simple job

has turned into a headache for the sheriffs.

After explaining themselves to the officers,

Kev comes outside to fill us in on what's been happening.

Yeah, it's a big old company.

Out the back, the workings of the factory,

they're repairing mobile phones.

There are machines and other assets worth thousands.

No wonder the managing director doesn't want to let the sheriffs in.

But it seems light-footed Lawrence has managed to give the MD the slip.

Lawrence, in his nimbleness, went through a door

and we were into the workshop.

With the sheriffs listing assets in the back,

it was game over for SBE Ltd.

We're back dealing with the lady we were initially dealing with.

She's got her debit card and she's going to be paying.

So, we've got the card machine here, going to go in there, get payment,

full payment, and we should be on our way soon.

Kev heads back in with the machine

and true to their word, the company finally pay up.

Debtor's assets are the leverage sheriffs need to get paid

and they have the right to explore a premises to find them.

We were dealing with it quite sensibly

and calmly initially with the young lady,

but then the managing director came down and started getting himself

involved telling us we couldn't do this, we couldn't do that.

We were required to stay in reception.

We said we weren't going to so he instructed the receptionist to press

the panic alarm but I managed to nip through a door

when somebody went through it so the young lady came back

and said she would pay it on her card.

And that's what happened. So, we got paid in full.

And with that, the sheriffs head off to the next job.

The cleaning company will now get the £2,325 they were owed.

It's 10am and Lawrence and Kev are in Windsor,

on the trail of a second-hand car salesman with a debt.

This morning, we are going to see a Mr Howard Brigman,

trading as Primavera Cars.

He owes £1,140.

This is expenses incurred

four days after the purchase of a Land Rover Freelander

and the wheel fell off it.

Not ideal.

No, it's not good to have a wheel fall off any vehicle, really.

So, yeah. That's who we're after now. We're a couple of miles away.

Lawrence and Kev are working on behalf of Mandy Springer.

She was driving with her grandchild Dante in the car

when the incident happened.

She'd only just bought the Land Rover from a local dealer

she'd found on the internet called Primavera Cars.

The salesman seemed fairly helpful, he was quite a friendly fellow

and he didn't seem to know very much about the car, actually.

When I was asking him, "Had the car been serviced?" He said, "Oh, no."

Nevertheless, it seemed to be what she was looking for.

My husband and I looked over the car,

we did pop the bonnet as well, we looked underneath for any

kind of mysterious rusting

and you know, it seemed sound to look at.

The Land Rover had a new MOT and Mandy negotiated a discount

to pay for a service she'd arrange later.

Thinking she had a good deal, she paid £3,600 and drove it away.

Only a few days later, disaster struck.

I'd come off the motorway and as I pressed the brake, the car shook,

I just about held it...

..and you could hear

something, like, it snapped.

I was very fortunate that the guy behind me

didn't actually smash into me.

Another guy came out and was knocking on the window,

shouting, "Your wheel's come off the car!"

The wheel had come almost completely detached

and the car was stranded in the middle of the road.

We're in two lanes of traffic because the car had slightly swerved

into the other lane,

so we could have been hit by any car coming down.

I think my grandson and I definitely could have been killed that day.

It wasn't safe to stay in the car,

so Mandy took 22-month-old Dante onto the verge

and called Primavera Cars.

There was no footway to stand, so we were standing in brambles.

I was trying to get help from the garage.

In the end, it was kind of like I was just arguing

and wasting my time. He refused to help me.

He didn't care, he didn't care at all.

So Mandy called the police who helped recover the car.

But Primavera wouldn't take it back.

They said, "No," they didn't want to help at all.

Instead, it was delivered to a Land Rover specialist.

When he examined it, Mandy was shocked by what he found.

He gave me four of these, these are spacers.

I didn't know anything about spacers until he told me.

It's to make the wheels look bigger, make the car look bulkier,

so maybe a boy racer might have stuff like this on their cars.

The spacer sits between the hub and the wheel,

and on this one, four of the five connecting bolts had failed.

This was the one where the wheel came off,

it was just by the grace of God that that one held on.

Using wheel spacers isn't illegal in the UK, but should be declared

to insurance companies as an after-market modification.

Mandy feels she ought to have been warned.

These should have been taken off the car prior to them selling it.

They should have known about these.

Mandy took Howard Brigman to court.

He didn't defend the case and was ordered to pay her back

the money she spent on fixing the car and her costs.

Brigman offered to pay Mandy by bank transfer, but she was worried.

I didn't trust their actions at all.

There was no way I was going to give them my bank details.

Wary of giving out her details, Mandy said she wanted a cheque,

one of the other payment methods recommended by the court.

But Brigman refused.

At one point, they called me eight times in one day,

kept calling and calling and saying, "We want your bank details.

"If you don't give us your bank details,

"we're going to issue a counter action against you."

They could have made payment at any time and they refused to do it.

And then there were the text messages.

"I'm still not happy about the way this has played out

"and I would suggest you receive adequate training in car mechanics

"before checking the vehicle over yourself in future instances."

So I thought...

..at the end of the day, you sold a car to somebody,

it could have killed them.

In fact, the law makes it clear that the dealer is

responsible for the vehicle being fit for purpose.

With the garage apparently unwilling to send her the cheque she wanted,

Mandy was left with little choice.

I had seen The Sheriff on telly before.

Never thought in a million years that I'd have to use them.

I was angry enough and I did want something to be done.

I did want my money back.

And so now Lawrence and Kev are on their way to get it for her.

Since Mandy bought her car,

Howard Brigman has joined forces with a new business partner

and they now trade as Primavera Cars Ltd,

operating from the same address as before.

Howard Brigman's partner is on site

and he seems to know all about the case.

Hello, there.

Yeah, good thank you.

-Yeah.

-Yes.

Right, well she's sent us out with a High Court writ.

£1,140.62 pays us, gets her paid and we're gone.

Lawrence isn't here to run messages around and it's now too late for

the car dealer to make a payment directly to Mandy.

Right, problem being she's now transferred it to the

High Court for enforcement purposes.

What you need to seek is independent legal advice, we're not here

to advise you. We're here to obviously execute the writ

on behalf of our claimant.

The man doesn't want to pay the costs of the sheriffs' visit.

But like it or not, the full amount is what he'll need to come up with.

We hold the money for 14 days,

it doesn't get disbursed straight away,

so that gives you 14 days to get legal advice.

Then if we're ordered to pay back the money,

we pay back the money, simple as that.

But at the moment, we've got a High Court writ

that says this has got to be paid.

The man doesn't want our camera in his office and we're asked to leave.

He doesn't protest much longer however, and Kev soon comes out.

Spoke to the guy. He knows all about it, to be fair.

He's going to make payment now, so I've got the card machine,

brought the van up and he's going to pay and off we go.

The man does indeed pay

and he invites our camera back in to tell his side of the story.

He says he thought the accident might have happened

because a friend of Mandy's had given the car a once over.

She said that, "Two days ago, my brother-in-law, who's a mechanic,

"was looking over the car," and all that, "and found some bits."

Anyway, and then she said the wheel came off two days after that.

I said, "Well, sounds like something that he's probably done, then."

He says Primavera offered to look at the car, but Mandy refused.

They didn't defend the case because they didn't receive the paperwork.

And he says, following the judgment, they tried to pay

but the disagreements over the payment method was the problem.

She wanted a cheque.

We kept asking for, e-mails asking her, for her sort code

and account number, so we could pay it.

Cos we want evidence to show that we've done it.

So we know it's been paid, so we can go to the court and let them know

that it's all been done. Cos we don't want this going any further.

Mandy was under no obligation to give out her details

and cheque is one of the payment methods recommended by the courts.

Refusing to send one has now cost Primavera Cars,

though the man has come up with a way to make sure

he gets his money's worth.

We'll do a selfie.

That was about as easy a job as you'll ever get, to be honest.

The gentleman saw us, recognised us, invited us into the office,

he knew exactly what case it was about.

He's not overly happy that he's got our fees on top now, but he was half

expecting a visit from us anyway

and just paid us straightaway on a card. So...

all in all another successful case for our client.

Back in Reading, it's the news Mandy's been waiting for.

It's been a really good result.

I'm pleased that I did get in contact with the sheriffs cos

they've helped take the stress out of a stressful situation.

So I'm really pleased.

I just sincerely hope that doesn't happen again to somebody else.

From multinationals to dodgy car dealers,

for the sheriffs, it's all the same.

And on the edge of London's financial district,

Enforcement Agent Ken Warby is looking for a household name.

We're going to see Post Office Ltd.

They are the debtors.

The claimant is a small-time landlord,

who owns a shop which provided postal services.

When the sub-postmaster left, fixtures and fittings

belonging to the Post Office were left behind for months,

which the landlord claims prevented him from renting the property out.

He took the company to court for storage costs,

and won a default judgment after the company didn't defend the case.

Now it's down to Ken to get more than £11,000 owed.

That's our building on the left there, I think,

where the scaffolding is outside.

But there's no parking outside -

and a road closure sends him on a long detour.

You couldn't make this up.

By the time he's found somewhere to park,

he's got a mile-long walk back to the Post Office.

Just trying to find the job now!

When he gets there, the offices look like a building site.

Nevertheless, this is the address on the writ, so Ken heads in.

Hi there, sorry to bother you,

I want to speak to someone at the Post Office Ltd.

They're not here any more?

The man says the building is being converted into a hotel.

It took us 20 minutes to walk from the car to here

and they're not here. Wonderful.

Satisfied that the Post Office Ltd have moved out, Ken leaves.

And the claimant won't get their money today.

There's nothing we can do there because it's totally empty.

They've got no forwarding information on the company.

They've set up somewhere else around here, I'm sure they will have.

So we'll just have to find them and go from there.

It's not quite as simple as finding the new office and marching in.

The sheriffs are legally obliged

to give debtors seven days' notice of their arrival.

And it's now looking like the letter they sent

would have gone to the wrong address.

A couple of weeks later, though, and Ken is back on the hunt.

Just like last time,

there's been no response to the letter the sheriffs have sent.

But Ken has a theory.

Must have got lost in the post. Don't know.

This time, he finds a spot nearby and heads straight in.

But our cameraman isn't allowed to follow him.

We continue filming from the street

while Ken explains he's there to collect more than £11,000.

He's then left to sit in reception

while the staff try to figure out what's going on.

A succession of different people come to talk to him,

but so far none of them have offered any payment.

The woman dealing with it in the legal department

has left me sitting in reception for the best part of an hour.

They are contacting other people at a different legal department,

I believe somewhere in Bolton.

I'm getting a bit bored.

Ken goes back inside, where the waiting game continues.

After more conversations with the staff,

the Post Office still haven't agreed to pay up.

Ken could demand to go upstairs

and start making a list of assets to take away.

He doesn't want to escalate the situation unless it's necessary,

but after three hours, that moment's getting closer.

I'm starting to lose my patience now.

I'm just going to dig my heels in and insist on full payment.

If they don't, then I'm just going to march around their offices,

list their items, call up a van with a view to remove their goods.

So that's where we are at the moment.

The waiting might be getting on his nerves,

but to recover 11 grand,

Ken would have to remove a lot of office equipment.

So, on this occasion, playing the long game

is the best way to get a result.

It's quite frustrating cos they've got about six magazines in there

and I've read them cover to cover so far.

But that's this job, sometimes -

you have to wait around quite a long time for payments.

Sure enough, the Mexican standoff soon reaches its finale.

The Post Office Ltd appears to be on the brink of paying up.

But before the deal is sealed,

Ken has to evade some additional expenses of his own.

Well, the fat lady hasn't sung yet...

..but I'm about to take my seat and get in the audience.

Payment is imminent, but I just need to relocate this car,

otherwise I'll get a ticket.

With his car safe from traffic wardens,

Ken makes his way back to Post Office's HQ.

This time, he only has to wait another ten minutes.

Right, well, after just over four hours of waiting,

the sheriff finally got his man.

£11,947.42,

exactly what I came for to begin with.

Great result, and claimant has got his money.

It's been a long day, but it was worth it.

Ken's persistence and patience

have got the claimant back the money they were owed.

The Post Office Ltd subsequently applied

to have the judgment against them set aside,

but discontinued their appeal.

The Post Office told us...

And they...

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 protocols, I'm afraid.

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

£1.6 million.

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.

It's just gone midday and Lawrence and Kev are in Putney, South London,

looking to recoup another unpaid debt.

We are going to WP&E Hospitality Ltd.

Looking for £3,805.

Our client is Fish! Kitchen Ltd.

I believe this is for the supplying of fish.

They didn't pay for their fish.

WP&E Hospitality Ltd trade as The Lobster House,

a fish and seafood restaurant on the Thames.

Lawrence is always excited about going out for lunch.

Well, I believe this fish restaurant we're going to

is quite a nice PLAICE.

Wah, wah, waaah.

But don't CARP on about it, will you?

It's not the first time the sheriffs have visited a restaurant.

It's a business that's famously hard to make a success of,

as the claimant in this case also knows all too well.

Tony Allan is himself a chef with two restaurants

going by the name of The Fish! Kitchen,

but he originally built up his business as a fish supplier.

I was so disillusioned with the fact...

what I was getting in restaurants as a chef,

and I thought I could do a lot better.

Tony started buying better fish at the docks

and selling it to chefs he knew.

Within a few years, he was supplying 600 restaurants.

And at one point, he had his own TV show with Giorgio Locatelli.

But he's since scaled-down the wholesale side of the business,

preferring instead to source fish just for his own restaurants

and his fishmongers next door.

I wasn't interested in supplying restaurants.

For years, I was perhaps waiting anything from 30 to 90 days

for our revenue to come back, our money to come in.

We do a couple of local restaurants that pay

when they come in and take their produce.

But, really, we are a retail supplier.

But he recently got reeled back in to the wholesale trade

when WP&E Hospitality Ltd came knocking on his door.

When they opened The Lobster House, the director, Mr Ling,

decided he wanted Tony to supply him and to pick his brains for advice.

The owner of the restaurant came in to see me.

I could see that he needed help.

We're not just fishmongers, I have restaurants of my own.

I've had a lot of experience in planning menus, balancing menus.

He appealed to my better nature.

You know, he met me next-door, he really wanted to buy off us.

I looked at this as a one-off,

and I wanted him to succeed, because we would've carried

on supplying him, we would've had a good business relationship.

And I thought I was helping him out, really.

Initially, WP&E Hospitality Ltd paid in cash.

But soon, they wanted credit.

After three or four months, he then phoned me

and said could he have an account,

I think we've built up enough trust.

At the same time, however,

Tony noticed not everything was hunky-dory with the new restaurant.

He was buying very sporadically.

And then I had a look at the stuff they were buying,

it didn't match the menu.

I could see that the chefs were changing,

the voices on the answerphone were completely different.

And that sent the alarm bells ringing, really.

Tony had seen the writing on the wall.

And soon after, he was reminded why he didn't want to supply

restaurants in the first place.

We hadn't been paid for two months,

and I asked him to come in to see me.

I explained to him, "I can't really supply you any more."

And he said, "OK, I'll send you a cheque." He never did.

I phoned him two or three times,

I even went over to the restaurant to see him.

I spoke to Chris, my finance director,

and I said to him that, "We've got to take legal action."

Before that, Chris tried to sort the matter out himself,

but he had no more luck than Tony.

It was very frustrating.

We had to make several phone calls, send e-mails,

none of which were replied to.

When I did actually finally get to speak to the defendant,

he indicated that there wasn't any more money in the business

and that he was looking for further funding from abroad,

which was due within a month or two.

At this point, The Lobster House owed over £2,500.

Before the case went to court, WP&E Hospitality Ltd had

one last chance to reach an agreement with Tony and Chris.

We had mediation beforehand and he offered between £800, £900.

£900, you know, I could've taken that. But it's not the money.

Normally, it would be the money, not the principle.

But this time it was the principle

for the amount of time and effort I put in to help the man.

After Tony declined the offer, the case was heard in court.

Fish! Kitchen won and WP&E Hospitality

was ordered to pay the full amount.

Only Tony hasn't seen a penny.

And now the best we can hope for

is that the sheriffs actually produce.

They've got a very difficult job on this one.

But if anyone can get his money back, it's Lawrence and Kev,

and they're headed to The Lobster House,

hoping to meet its director Mr Ling.

-That's it.

-The Lobster House?

-Yes.

The building is unmistakable.

But peering through the window, it doesn't look promising.

-They're not open anyway.

-It's being refurbed.

The front entrance is locked.

But around the back, someone comes to the door.

Hello there. My name's Mr Grix.

-My colleague and I are Enforcement Agents.

-All right.

We've got a High Court writ against WP&E Hospitality Ltd,

trading as The Lobster House.

The woman says The Lobster House have moved out.

She's currently setting up a new Mediterranean restaurant.

Have you not been here long?

So are you a new company, are you?

Yeah, sure, cheers.

Given they only moved out recently, Lawrence needs to make sure that

none of WP&E Hospitality Ltd's goods are still on the premises.

You rent the building, but you've bought all the fixtures

-and fittings, have you?

-Yes.

So who was that money to?

So he's basically sold you the bits and pieces and moved out?

The woman hasn't got paperwork to hand to prove what she's saying,

but Lawrence is happy enough.

I completely believe what you're saying.

And you can see it is being refurbished.

As he will still need to see proof, he asked the woman to send

her paperwork through to the sheriffs' office

and he has got some advice for the new restaurant.

Once you've got this paperwork together,

have them all to hand so that

if you do get any more Enforcement Agents coming round for

-whatever debt, you can say, "Look, this is us, we took over then."

-OK.

-And they'll be gone quicker than us.

-OK.

-OK?

-See you later, have a good day.

With no debtor and no assets,

there is nothing more the sheriffs can do today.

They don't give up easily, though.

And six weeks later, Kev's been able to dredge up some new information.

I did a bit of research, I've come up with this new address for them.

So we'll go here today,

see if we can have more luck here than we did before.

It's another nibble on the line,

but the sheriffs know from experience

not to get their hopes up.

If the restaurant has shut, the company could well

be in financial trouble, and the new address might not bear any fruit.

It's more likely to be a director's home address

or a registered office.

If they've gone from the trading address,

it's unlikely you'll find assets anywhere else.

They arrive at the address, but it is not obvious how to get in.

Luckily, a man in a neighbouring unit has arrived at the same time.

-Looking for 1B.

-Oh, that's upstairs.

-That's upstairs, is it?

-Is that through that door there, is it?

-It is.

-Are you just about to open that?

-I am.

-Excellent news for us.

Lovely. Cheers.

Having charmed his way in,

Lawrence makes his way to the 1B office.

Morning. Hi there, I'm looking for WP&E Hospitality Ltd.

You are an office acting for them?

In what capacity?

So, what's the name of your business, sir?

The man says this is just WP&E Hospitality Ltd's

registered address and that he runs a separate company.

Lawrence isn't yet convinced that he has nothing to do with the debt.

Are the two companies connected at all?

So are you a director of both companies?

Right. Now we're getting somewhere.

It's Mr Ling,

the man Tony said he helped with The Lobster House's menus.

We are here today with a High Court writ

-on behalf of Fish! Kitchen Ltd...

-Yeah.

..we are ordered to take control of goods to the value of £3,851.78.

You're responsible, sir. So how would you like to pay?

Have you got cash here or would you like to pay on a card?

Bank transfer?

But Mr Ling doesn't want to pay.

Yes.

So, you haven't had the money for the restaurant yet?

Right, so you're telling me the company's got no money?

Right, well, I'll have to take control of assets then.

Just as Lawrence feared,

Mr Ling says that WP&E Hospitality is broke.

What's more, he claims it doesn't own anything in this office.

Lawrence will need to see proof.

If you can't prove today that it belongs to FM Europe Ltd,

we will be taking it.

Everything can go - cupboards, desks, chairs, computers...

Mr Ling starts to look through his receipts.

But the sheriffs don't really want the stuff here

as its value wouldn't cover the cost of removing it.

They're hoping the threat will convince him to pay up.

It seems, however, that Mr Ling genuinely can't.

He shows Lawrence the company's bank statement.

All right, OK.

So you can't come up with any funds today?

Right. So now we come back...

Mr Ling says he's expecting some money to come in

from the sale of the restaurant in the next couple of weeks.

Lawrence isn't going to waste his afternoon emptying this tiny office,

so instead, he lists the goods and Mr Ling promises to pay

when his money comes through.

Right, this is your control goods agreement.

OK, so the agreement is payment in full by the 14th of December.

-Yeah, right.

-OK? So you need to sign, print and date that.

OK? Bye-bye.

And with that, they head for home.

There was no assets there, that's the biggest trouble you've got.

It would never be worth removing for a job like that,

so there's not a lot you can do.

We saw his bank account.

So it's sort of hitting your head

against a brick wall on that one a little bit.

The only thing we can hope for is that when he does get his money

for the sale of the restaurant, that he pays then.

What happened to the money from

the sale of the restaurant though is unclear.

Shortly after the sheriffs' visit, WP&E Hospitality Ltd went

into liquidation and Mr Ling hasn't settled the debt to Fish! Kitchen.

We won't be receiving our money. And, obviously, we're disappointed.

But I think, myself and Chris,

are resigning to the fact that we wasn't going to get paid.

One of those things in business. These things happen all the time.

Put a line under this now and move on.

In the north-east, sheriff Chris Pearson

is on his way to a very different kind of job.

He's going to see a seller of upmarket bathrooms

who's got a debt to pay.

We're off to Stockton-on-Tees to see a company called Envy Homes.

Envy Homes owes £2,286

after falling behind

with payments to a supplier -

City Distribution Ltd.

The company was taken to court.

It didn't defend the case and judgment was found against it.

Chris has been told it's a small, one-man company,

and on arrival, is pleasantly surprised.

Envy Homes.

Ah, looks more than a one-man band to me.

If it's a company, they normally have assets

and it's normally straightforward.

Fingers crossed that's how it's going to be here.

It's a large showroom full of stock.

But despite it being the middle of the day,

there doesn't seem to be anyone in.

Just as he's trying to reach the debtor by phone,

-a man arrives.

-How are you doing? Is this your premises, sir?

-It is, yes.

-Yeah, all right.

I've got a High Court writ to do with City Distribution Ltd.

You've got a balance at the minute of £2,285.61.

I haven't got all that sort of money at the moment,

but I dare say I could have, like, half of it within a couple of days.

Yeah, you need to get it right now.

We're actually here to take control of your goods.

-I'll see what I can do.

-No problem, I'll hang fire. No problem.

The man goes inside to see if he can raise the money,

and for the time being at least, Chris is happy to wait.

I'll give him time to make a few phone calls.

I'm sure the threat of us going in there

and taking his stock, I think that's going to be more than enough

to get him to get the funds for us.

And while the boss does what he has to do,

Chris is doing a bit of window-shopping.

I like that mirror. See the mirror? I know it's just a standard mirror,

but the effect of it's nice, isn't it?

The boss has called some friends to try to borrow the money,

and while he waits to hear back, tells Chris what's gone on.

I always paid them.

I had problems before, but I always cleared my debts OK.

-But just this year, it's just killed it.

-Right.

It's just dead and so I couldn't pay the first month.

Then the second month hit and I just said,

"Look, I'm sorry, I'm still struggling."

I just assumed they'd realise business would be bad

and they would just take it easy.

I didn't expect you guys to turn up, put it that way.

But the County judgment was issued against the business

more than two months ago and it should have been settled.

Now faced with a demand for immediate payment,

it's not clear whether he's going to be able

to get the money together.

I don't know who he's phoning, what's happening, to be honest.

If he can't get the money, there's plenty of assets for us

to take control of, so we're fine there.

I can give him as long as he needs, really.

He seems a genuine guy, he's trying to sort things out,

so try and give him a bit of extra time.

Time to check out the bathtubs.

Very nice.

I don't think I can afford these prices, though.

Bit expensive in here.

We're more B&Q type people, to be honest.

Meanwhile...

..the boss has called in a couple of favours

and some friends have dropped by with the cash.

It looks like Chris is home and dry,

but when he counts the money, there seems to be a problem.

-How much did you say was there?

-It should be exactly...

Well, the exact amount. Is it off, is it?

Absolutely. It's quite a way off.

You're 520 short, by the looks of it.

The man had told Chris it was the right amount to the penny,

yet more than £500 seems to be missing.

-Could you give me five minutes?

-Yeah, yeah.

I'll see what I can sort out cos I don't know why...

Just when it looked like the job was in the bag,

everything's been thrown into doubt.

If the man doesn't have the cash,

then Chris might have to take goods after all.

But luckily, it turns out to be a simple mistake.

Right, located, mate.

There was some in the back of the drawer.

Check it over, but it's definitely right now.

Yeah, that's right there.

-Well done, mate. Brilliant. Thank you.

-OK.

-Thanks for your help.

Cheers. Appreciate that.

At the end of the day, I wasn't planning on going anywhere.

As you can see, my showroom's still here,

but the company decided to basically go forward

and put a County Court Judgment against the company

to get the money back.

But, as I said, you can only pay it if you've got it.

Until you guys turned up today,

I thought they'd just given me a bit of a breathing space

to try and get some money together.

The man's supplier has finally got the money they were owed,

and Chris is just glad to see the matter resolved

in the best way possible.

He's a genuine guy, pretty nice guy,

so I'm happy for him that he got the money together,

rather than having to tip him out, take all the gear.

Home improvement businesses often end up with sheriffs at their doors.

And while Chris has been checking out bathrooms in Stockton,

Ken's now on his way to a kitchen fitters in London.

His destination is Daler Kitchens Ltd, who were taken to court

by an unhappy customer.

The company contested the case, but judgment was awarded against them

and they were ordered to pay the customer back. They haven't.

So it's now down to Ken to try to collect nearly £11,000.

Here we are. Daler Kitchens and Bedrooms.

Writ in hand, Ken heads inside.

Hello.

-Daler Kitchens Ltd.

-Yeah.

Are you the person in charge?

The woman in the shop is just a junior member of staff.

She gets the manager on the phone

and Ken explains the purpose of his visit.

Hello. Yes, Mr Warby speaking. I'm here regarding

a writ of control against Daler Kitchens Ltd.

Is that your company, sir?

You got the name over your shop front.

Ken explains that he's here to collect nearly £11,000,

including costs.

We're here to collect in full, or remove goods.

This is your solicitor saying...

Do you mind getting your solicitor to give me a call?

The man says he's applying to appeal the court's decision.

This hasn't been stopped because

I'm here with a writ of control from the High Court, so...

Let me speak to your solicitor.

In the meantime, I'll be getting on with my inventory.

All right.

He clearly doesn't want to pay,

so Ken begins making a list of the assets in the building.

If the manager doesn't change his tune,

then Ken will have no choice but to remove it.

And when Daler Kitchens' solicitor soon calls,

it's Ken that's giving him a lesson in the law.

We've got a stamped in the High Court, writ of control.

So, unfortunately for your client,

this kind of trumps any application that might have been made thus far.

The solicitor wants more time,

but Ken thinks they've had long enough already.

I can't give these people any time.

A notice of enforcement was sent to this address

and it's gone unanswered, and that's why we're here now.

But with the goods in the shop not worth much to Ken, he offers a deal.

Providing they pay the balance within 14 days,

I would be willing to get a signed control goods agreement,

but I am going to need at least 50% of this debt paid now.

We're talking £5,500.

The solicitor agrees to put the offer to the shop's owner.

If he doesn't accept the deal,

then Ken's next call will be to the removals company.

He's still waiting to hear back when another woman involved in

the business arrives at the scene and takes over.

She asks our camera to leave, while Ken stays inside to try to get her

to pay at least half of the 11 grand owed.

45 minutes later, he's on his way.

See you later.

After much deliberation, they have now paid me £1,000 in cash,

and £4,500 by card

and signed a controlled goods agreement to pay

the balance within 14 days.

The total goods in there...

would fetch, I would imagine,

less than £2,000,

so that is a good result.

Daler Kitchens Ltd later paid the other £5,500,

and the customer who had been refused a refund

finally got their money back.