Episode 1 The Sheriffs Are Coming

Meet the sheriffs.

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

It's to do with a High Court order.

They work for the High Court, and if it says you're owed money,

it's their job to go and get it.

I'm here for £6,072.18.

They can demand payment on the spot...

I'm here for the full balance.

How are you going to pay it?

..or remove assets instead.

The car will be going unless you can pay it.

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

Obstructing their work can be a criminal offence.

I wouldn't do that if I were you.

The door needs to stay open.

Every year, in England and Wales,

unpaid debts totalling more than £80 million

are recovered by the sheriffs.

Coming up, a budding property developer's lost out

after squatters took over his building.

We have subsidised the squatters,

approximately £20,000.

When the sheriffs tried to evict them,

they get more than they bargained for.

Didn't see all that, did you?

A locksmith's done a botched job on Pete Mullany's door.

The mechanism was the wrong one.

The whole frame and everything was damaged.

It was a bit of a disaster.

The boss of the company responsible doesn't want to cooperate.

But can Ken change his mind?

That's what I like to see, plenty of stock in the shop.

And Lawrence and Kev are on the hunt for a stables manager

who owes money.

Hello?

No sign of anybody, is there?

The place is deserted, but can they get the debtor's attention?

HORN BEEPS

Return to the stables immediately please,

so that we can deal with this.

This morning, enforcement agent Ken Warby

is in his usual North London patch.

He's heading to a shop in Barnet, in pursuit of an unpaid debt.

On the face of it, it looks like a run-of-the-mill job,

but he's about to be reminded

that it takes some people longer than others

to come to terms with the realities of High Court enforcement.

We are going to visit a company called All Service For You.

I believe they're a security company.

To be precise, All Service For You Ltd

is a locksmiths,

and their debt of more than £2,000 all began

with a surprisingly simple problem,

a broken lock on the front door

of Pete Mullany's family home in Stockport.

The locks themselves wasn't shutting properly,

such that when you shut the door,

it was just slightly sticking out a bit.

Pete and his wife called around locksmiths for quotes,

before settling on All Service For You,

thinking it was a local company.

It wasn't until we found out a little bit further on in the process

that the company was based in London,

and they'd outsourced it to local contractors to pick up the deal.

So it wasn't kind of what we were hoping for.

And when a workman came to fix the lock,

it didn't exactly go as planned.

It's a composite door with its own unique locking mechanism,

and the mechanism that he put in was the wrong one,

so as a result, there was loads of holes everywhere,

which had been filled in with Polyfilla.

The door was slightly damaged, as well,

and at the bottom, didn't shut properly.

You could actually see the light coming through,

the wind blowing through into the hallway.

So all told, it was a bit of a disaster.

At first, it looked like All Service For You

were keen to help and sent someone else out

to fix the problem, only HE fared no better.

He himself had to, in parts in the door, lathe down the door,

and as a consequence of lathing down the door,

he actually splintered all the door, so the damage got worse.

This time, when the Mullanys tried to complain,

they found the company was less responsive.

Calls and messages went unanswered and in the end, they just gave up,

until several months later, when events spurred Pete into action.

I went to slam the door and the actual splinter

started to come away,

and that's when I realised that this job wasn't good enough.

So what I did, I did two things, really.

I checked the original invoice that we got for the locks.

They'd put one-year warranty, so I thought I was within that one year,

so still within my rights to do something about it.

So I contacted them and asked them to ring me,

sent all the pictures again, and as usual, they never got back.

Pete made a claim against All Service For You Ltd

through the County Courts,

and when they didn't offer a defence, he won a default judgment.

But weeks down the line, there's still no sign of his money.

More than anything, we need to get that door sorted.

Three daughters in the house,

my constant fear is that someone could break that door down.

When it rains heavily, we're always scared about ingress of water

coming into the house. When it's windy,

you can hear it whistling through the bottom of the door.

Desperate to get his money, and with the law on his side,

Pete's escalated the case to the High Court

and called in the sheriffs.

I'm hoping that they are going to get that money for me,

because this has been a mega process,

and it just feels like if it falls at the last step,

I'll be absolutely devastated.

In Barnet, Ken's on his way to the shop

where All Service For You are thought to trade.

As he reaches the address,

it seems the name of the shop doesn't quite match

the name on his writ.

37, All Time Security...

But it's probably just a trading name for the same business,

and Ken likes what he sees.

Walk straight in the shop front, that should be easy enough.

Little does Ken know the extent to which his patience will be tested,

but he does at least find a nice place for the car.

That's a good little spot. It's free...

..and it's literally over the road.

Time for Ken to discover whether the company's planning

-to finally pay up for Pete's door.

-Hello.

All Service For You Ltd?

Yes.

I need to speak to the person in charge.

It's the right company,

and the woman behind the desk quickly finds the manager.

My name is Mr Warby.

OK.

This is regarding a judgment from an individual called Mr Pete Mullany.

The situation's this...

These now have a High Court judgment against you,

so I'm here for the full balance.

After costs, it's now £2,311, that's what I'm here for.

The man now says he's willing to pay the original judgment debt,

without costs and fees,

but the time to pay this lower figure has long gone.

The amount with Sheriffs' fees currently stands at £2,311.50.

Yeah...

At this point, our camera is asked to leave.

Inside, Ken attempts to explain to the manager

that he needs to find more than two grand pretty quickly,

or else goods will be removed from the shop.

But the man doesn't like what he's hearing and closes the shutters,

trapping Ken inside.

Ken follows protocol and calls the police.

For 25 minutes, the discussion continues behind closed doors,

until eventually, the shutters reopen.

The boss thinks he's found a loophole in Ken's paperwork

and wants to show us.

The address on the writ is the company's registered office,

not here, where they are trading from.

Thinking he's onto a winner, the boss lets us back in.

But he's barking up the wrong tree.

Sheriffs can attend anywhere the debtor resides

or carries out a trade or business.

Yeah, we're instructed by the client to attend here,

so that is an extension for the writ.

To be here.

The manager seems to think it's unreasonable for the claimant

to want the money he's legally owed.

Ken decides the easiest thing is to just wait for backup.

Later, as he starts listing goods for potential removal...

I can go wherever I want, mate.

..Ken gets locked in again.

Using the county courts to try to recover money you're owed

isn't difficult. 1.5 million money claims

are made every year in England and Wales,

involving anything from faulty goods or poor workmanship,

to unpaid invoices.

Claims can be filed by post or online for a small fee.

Both parties in the case will be asked to submit evidence,

and you may have to attend a court hearing.

If you're successful,

a County Court Judgment or CCJ will be issued against the debtor.

And if they still don't pay, that's when you call the sheriffs.

It's 6am in Brixton, South London.

All right, I'll give out a couple of copies of the writ.

Under the cover of darkness,

the sheriffs are quietly preparing to carry out an eviction

on a group of squatters.

They've taken over a nearby commercial premises,

and it's the job of team leader Mark King

to take it back for the owner.

The client has said there is potentially

up to 15 people in there.

We'll give them the opportunity to get their stuff together.

If they don't, or they mess about or become aggressive or anything,

they'll just be removed from the property.

The building is owned by Julien Gressier.

He works in the fashion industry but with a background in architecture,

also has a sideline in small-scale property development.

The property in question is a commercial building,

which, until recently, was used to sell car parts.

But Julien is hoping to develop it

into a mix of residential and commercial units.

It is currently a large warehouse on two floors, probably 1930s built,

industrial to some extent,

which is very much part of the DNA of the building

which we want to retain.

However, shortly after buying it at auction,

Julien was informed that squatters had moved in.

As the building had been empty for a few months,

at first he was sympathetic, and went to speak to them.

They were keen on some sort of deal whereby they stay in the place,

look after it, and it wouldn't deteriorate any further.

To some extent, we were probably open to discussion,

but I think came a point where we fairly quickly realised

that they were taking the mickey, if you can use that!

The squatters are preventing access to the building

which Julien needs to progress the works,

and because he was unable to persuade them to leave,

he's embarking on the legal process of getting them removed.

He's ploughed all his savings into this project,

and reckons the squatters' intervention

has cost him a small fortune.

We are paying, every month.

Business rates are probably about £3,000 a month on the place.

Overall...

We have subsidised the squatters by approximately £20,000.

While the squatters are asleep,

the sheriffs are getting ready to make their move.

There are two doors which are both locked,

but they're barricaded on the inside.

Barricaded doors are bad news for the sheriffs.

They want to gain access quickly and quietly

before the squatters are awake and can cause any trouble.

So Mark needs to choose which of the doors

he thinks will be the easiest for the team to force open.

Just get the door open.

He opts for one which he thinks the squatters might be using

to go in and out themselves, and gives the go-ahead.

Knock it in.

The door is putting up a fight, but persistence pays off.

And with a bit of elbow grease, the sheriffs manage to prise it open.

All right. Hold on, hold on.

What's behind it, though, is going to be much more of a problem.

That ain't the way they're coming in, then.

The doorway's thoroughly barricaded.

The sheriffs throw everything at it they can.

Someone else give it a go.

But they've lost the element of surprise,

so Mark might as well appeal to the squatters directly.

Right, listen, fellas.

We're enforcement officers with a High Court writ.

We're coming in. You need to start packing up your stuff, yeah?

What the sheriffs don't want is to give the squatters enough time

to create any more obstacles...

..especially as the heavily fortified barricade

they're already up against isn't showing any signs of budging.

Keep going at that one.

Mark can't afford to waste any more time,

so turns his attention to the shutters instead.

That doesn't prove to be much easier, but eventually,

they managed to force a gap just wide enough to squeeze through.

-All right, we're in, we're in.

-Go, go, go.

Once inside, they set about waking everyone up and moving them out.

Right, you need to pack your stuff straightaway.

You've got ten minutes.

All right, fella, get your stuff packed up.

You need to leave, yeah?

Half-asleep squatters aren't the easiest to get motivated.

DOG BARKS

And it's not only people that need to leave.

We've got dogs, yeah.

-Yeah, three upstairs.

-All right. OK.

They were throwing stuff against the door first off,

but once we're in, they're just packing up, aren't they?

Because they know what's happening.

The sheriffs' priority now is to try to get the squatters

to remove as many of their possessions as possible.

If they've got their stuff,

then they're not going to want to get back in here.

So far, things are all going smoothly enough.

Just when it looks like this eviction

might pass without incident,

the mood starts to change.

Just come and go, get your stuff, if you carry on, listen,

if you carry on playing up, yeah,

it's going to affect other people getting their stuff, OK?

Come and get your stuff as you need to, and that's it.

Another of the squatters isn't keen on having their 15 minutes of fame,

and is obstructing our cameraman.

-Just leave her alone.

-No, I'm in the street, you're not police,

you do your job, this is a public highway.

Yeah, it's a public highway.

When the sheriffs step in, tempers flare.

Don't touch me, not in a public place, don't touch me.

I'm not touching anything.

Not touching anything.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Look, just calm down, fellas.

-Do you want to get arrested?

-Why?

Do you want to get arrested?

-We're in the street.

-Well, then, stop.

You don't want to make things worse for everyone else out here.

The squatters are becoming more and more agitated.

The situation is starting to turn ugly.

Watch me! Hey, hey, hey!

Try and burn me again with it, and I will chuck it.

-No.

-You don't... You are grabbing me.

You just tried to burn me with your cigarette.

Don't grab me. This woman is grabbing me.

I'm not doing anything.

No-one else to go back in now.

No-one goes in now, Rupert.

What?

Take a step back.

-What?

-Take a step back, take a step back.

No-one's going back in there because she's messing about.

Enough is enough.

With some of the squatters getting aggressive,

the sheriffs take the decision not to let anyone else back in.

Whatever possessions are inside will have to be left behind.

So it's now all the more important the building's well and truly secured,

so they don't break back in later.

Locksmith Andy's already on the case,

and there is at least one door where the job's been done for him.

Yeah, a bit of barricading from the front.

So I don't think Andy will do anything with that,

because it's as good as it's going to be.

As the new locks go on, the squatters start to disperse.

But just as it appears that the tensions have been defused,

one man who was causing trouble earlier comes back for more...

A MAN SHOUTS

..kicking our cameraman in the shins as a parting shot.

We don't care. You're not welcome.

He's just doing his job. Leave him alone.

That's the last we see of him, though,

and as the final stragglers head on their way,

the sheriffs' work is done.

All the locks have been changed.

All the padlocks, exterior locks, door locks, everything.

The property's secure.

Um...

just got to sign vacant possession to the client,

and then it's time for breakfast.

The property is now back in the hands of the owner,

and, a few weeks later, we're catching up with him.

Julien says the damage turned out to be far worse

than he had feared.

You had the alarm system that they ripped out,

you had the copper pipes, which were pretty much running all across,

that they nicked.

You know, chopped them off, sold for scrap, I guess.

The worst was actually all the rubbish that we had to get rid of.

That was probably about £3,000 to get rid of it.

Julien is relieved to have his project back on track.

I'm really happy I got the place back.

It was pretty much two months of delay,

but it's now behind us.

I have to thank the sheriffs very much

for their...for their help.

And for giving us the space back, really.

In the South-east, enforcement agents Lawrence Grix

and Kev McNally are heading into the countryside.

We are in Horsham in West Sussex today.

We're going to West Sussex Livery.

The debt is relating to...

HE CHUCKLES

Is that a wind-up?

What is the debt relating to?

Kev can barely believe it,

but the dispute began with the purchase of some

horse semen, as Lawrence explains.

Apparently, our claimant's mare, um,

was due to be impregnated by the debtor's stallion.

I don't know if it was artificial or if they actually covered the mare.

But the mare didn't get pregnant.

Test results on the stallion's semen revealed it was substandard,

and was therefore unlikely to result in a pregnancy.

This is basically the money she paid for the...

..for the duff semen.

THEY LAUGH

It may not be your typical case, but the law works the same nonetheless.

After the mare's owner was refused a refund,

she took West Sussex Livery to court - and won.

That was six months ago, and with costs and fees,

the stables now owes £2,273.

Kev reckons he's got a pretty good idea of what assets

they're likely to find.

There's going to be stuff to remove at a stables, you presume.

I suppose, potentially, horses but, in reality,

that's not going to be happening.

But if that's the only asset they've got, we have to take it.

We're not going to take any horses.

THEY LAUGH

They've found it, and it doesn't look like they'll have any problem

getting in.

That gate will open.

-Shall I go in that way?

-Yes, please, mate, yeah.

Having finally found the premises, they head in to look for the owner,

a woman called Anne Hawes.

Hello?

Hello?

-Hello?

-Anybody around?

But the only signs of life are either equine...

Horses. Big heads.

..or canine.

There's dogs here.

Hello, pups.

Where is everyone, Lawrence?

-Don't know, mate.

-Do you not think that's odd?

Someone has been here recently. Everything's open,

there's half a dozen horses and the stables are clearly working.

Whether they've made themselves scarce after seeing the sheriffs

arrive, or just popped out for lunch, without making contact,

there's not much Lawrence and Kev can do.

-I don't think anyone's here, Lawrence.

-I don't.

Lawrence has a number for the woman

who runs the place, but gets no answer.

This is a message for Anne Hawes.

My name is Mr Grix. I'm an enforcement agent.

I've got a High Court writ against West Sussex Livery.

I'm actually at the stables at the moment.

Would you be able to ring me back, please,

or return to the stables immediately, please,

so that we can deal with this? Thank you.

You wouldn't expect them to just disappear,

so we're just going to sit here for a little while in case somebody

comes back. Or, as is sometimes the case,

on jobs like this,

the first thing you know is the police turn up.

People put in a call to the police saying "Oh, there's people on my

"land, there's people doing this, people doing that."

After waiting it out,

there's still no sign of either the police or the debtor.

And eventually, they have to call it a day.

They take down the registration numbers of the vehicles here

so that they can run some checks.

Lawrence prepares some paperwork, and with nowhere better to leave it,

Kev tucks it under the gate latch as they leave.

Anyone getting in is seeing that.

The job might seem like it's a bit of a 'mare, but, in fact,

it turns out to be quite the opposite.

While the sheriffs never manage to meet Ms Hawes in person,

the paperwork does have the desired effect.

Shortly after their visit, she paid the £2,273 owing,

and the claimant has finally got their money back.

Back in Barnet, Sheriff Ken Warby is still in a high-street locksmiths -

All Service For You Ltd -

trying to convince the boss to pay up £2,311.

He says he's happy to pay the original court award,

but not the extra fees incurred after he didn't pay and the case was

transferred to the sheriffs.

He's adamant he's not going to pay our charges at all.

He'll pay the debt, he's not going to pay our charges.

He's spoken to his solicitor. His solicitor has advised him to pay.

But he's still not having it, he's just being very stubborn.

The police are still on their way because he says no-one's going

to be removing goods from here. Hopefully, when the police turn up,

they will advise him that we can remove goods from here

and he'll pay the debt in full.

Sorry, sir. I'm going to have to crack on with this.

So your charges will now apply, OK? You have been warned.

Ken calls for a removal truck...

meaning even more fees.

And he begins to make an inventory of assets in the shop.

And the stock, for example.

OK.

Not really, not if we can help it.

You sure have.

Ken's not sure of a door lock's auction value,

but he's likely to need a lot of them to get close to the value of

the debt. So he needs to list everything he can find.

Only the boss isn't happy with him looking around.

I can go wherever I want, mate.

It's under the same roof.

The man once again sends our camera outside...

..locks the doors and closes the shutters.

Ken puts another call in to the police.

And they arrive shortly afterwards.

Hello?

Hello, it's the police.

Can you open the door, please? Thank you.

The police are let in, and it's

still a relatively good-natured atmosphere inside.

But as the boss continues to repeat

the same arguments Ken's been listening to

for the past two and a half hours, patience is wearing thin.

The eventual sight of the removal truck is welcome relief.

Ken's hoping that will provide the incentive for the boss to pay.

Come in when you're ready, mate.

With a police escort, Ken and the removals man get to work.

But even when faced with the prospect of an almost

completely empty store, the boss still doesn't cave in.

Now the police have arrived, now the removal guy's arrived,

he's now claiming that there's other companies in here that own

certain things, so we're looking for invoices and stuff

on that now as proof.

It's looking at the moment like he's not going to pay it.

He's digging his heels in, so I'm going to have to do the same.

And so the excruciating task of comparing thousands of locks and

parts against individual receipts continues.

Finally, as the first box of his stuff is set down in the lorry,

the boss reaches for his credit card and pays in full.

The saga is finally over.

He thought as soon as the police turn up that we would have to go.

I started listing stuff inside, the guy turned up to remove them,

and his bottle went. I knew he would pay in the end.

The man is still convinced he's in the right.

He says Mr Mullany tried to get the damage done to his door fixed after

their standard guarantee had expired.

But he's not helped himself.

By failing to pay when he was ordered to after the first court hearing,

and again when Ken turned up this morning,

his final bill is more than double the original judgment.

He ended up paying a whopping - drum roll -

£3,993.52.

He's had full fees on there. Stupid, really,

because all that could have been avoided.

All he wanted to do was pay the debt.

He didn't want to pay any of our charges at all.

And the upshot was, he's ended up paying a hell of a lot more than

what I originally went in there for, to the tune of over £1,500.

The boss might be wishing today had panned out differently,

but back in Stockport, his customer, Pete Mullany,

is more than happy with the outcome.

I'm just over the moon, really relieved.

The main thing now is to get this door repaired.

If I'm honest with you, I would have done the door before but I genuinely

thought it might be used as evidence at some point.

But I'm already intending to get a lad that I know quite well to come

and fix the door.

I think everyone has a good laugh at it when they come in

now and see the state that it's in at the minute.