Pay Day Scrappers

I'm Terry Walker, and this is my scrapyard.

-Morning, boss.

-All right, Coxy.

-Want a brew?

-Cup of tea, please.

Happy days.

There's profit in every ounce of a scrapped car.

50 quid, pal.

I buy 'em. Strip 'em.

Squash 'em. And then flog the lot.

What a good day.

I started the yard over 20 years ago,

A few years after, I met Lyndsay. The wife.

Don't go mad spending money.

-Can I spend it on you, then?

-Oh, yeah, no problem.

He just makes money, like. It's just this knack he's got.

I do it by employing lads that no-one else will.

Individually, they're good lads. They're all right.

But together, they're just like a load of hyenas.

It's like a circus sometimes.

You got to keep laughing, cos if you don't, you'll cry.

Move these tyres! Move 'em!

I won't have the mickey took out of me.

If they do that, they're history.

There's more cars to come up. Get 'em sorted!

If they show willing and they've got..

And I can see something in 'em, I won't give up on them easily.

Can't get a job nowhere else. Nowhere else will have me.

It's the Metro family, and it's the family I've created from scratch.

It's 6.30 in the morning and all is peaceful at Metro Salvage.

The grab is still.

And the first cuppa is yet to be brewed.

This is the heart of the Walker's Bolton empire, a scrapyard and second-hand car lot.

It's the first day back for Terry and Lyndsay,

who've just spent two weeks at their holiday home in Spain.

This is one of my rituals, which I do every day. Just make

Lyndsay a nice grilled breakfast, then take it to her in bed.

As long as I'm in the good books.

Here you are, love.

Why have you put big light on for?

-You all right?

-Mmm.

-You don't look it.

Where's me toast!?

Terry has built up the biggest scrap empire in the North West of England.

But the pressure is always on.

Every week, he has to sell £25,000 worth of scrap metal,

spare parts and second-hand cars, just to break even.

It's Tuesday and there's only a few grand in the bank.

And on Friday, the staff will need paying...

in cash.

All right, Gazza?

All the lads in here are called Dave. So it's...all right, Dave?!

All right.

All right, Dave?! Yes, Dave! You all right?

Terry's built his multimillion pound business on a deceptively simple formula.

He buys cars. He strips them for parts.

And what's left, ends up here.

Gloria, the monster of the yard!

Basically what you do is, you get as many cars as you can, get 'em

all de-polluted, get them up to our Jason and he rips and grips.

So you put metal in and out pops the money,

Gloria processes up to 200 tonnes of scrap every week

that Terry can sell for 120 quid a tonne.

It's then shipped abroad to be recycled.

You have got to feed our Gloria. Just keep putting the metal in.

As many cars as you can.

It is hungry for cars, it's hungry for scraps, it's hungry, for metal. We need to feed it.

The yard needs to scrap at least 30 cars a day

just to cover the overheads.

No car, no money. No money, no wages. It's as simple as that.

It's the knock-on effect.

The big machine that needs feeding.

There's me, there's Gloria and there's Lyndsay.

Me and Terry have been together 35 years and had Metro 21 years.

But we don't always see eye to eye on how the business is run.

The thing that me and Terry argue about is the spending.

Because, to be honest, he has no idea what

we have actually got money-wise.

Our Lyndsay absolutely hates me going to the auctions

and buying too many cars. But I've got to feed Gloria!

I honestly think he is addicted.

It makes him feel better. He is always in a good mood

when he's spent, like, loads of money on cars.

I have to watch Terry like a hawk, because if it wasn't for me, he would probably be in jail.

Because there's one law for Terry and one law for everybody else.

Apart from our Lyndsay thinking she's the boss, she's fine.

Is she the boss?

no, I'm the boss.

Can I help ya, pal?

Yeah, I want to scrap the car.

Right, let's have a look at it, then, eh?

Yeah.

It's seen better days, hasn't it?

A customer has arrived at the yard and Terry sniffs a bargain.

How much ya want for it?

500.

Knock a nought off and I'll have it!

Prices are a bit low at the moment - £118 a tonne, 700 kilos - we're looking at 80 quid.

Yeah, 80 quid. Yeah, that's fine.

80 quid, sort this gentleman out, yeah?

If it had been a little bit cleaner, I might have tried to sell it as a runner.

Subsequently, I think we'll probably just sell pickings off it.

Engine and gear box is probably worth 30 quid and the shell is worth

another 50 quid, so probably looking at 50-60 quid profit.

It's not a lot, but if you do it on volume, 1,000 cars a month,

job's a good 'un.

The scrapyard's a seven day a week operation, employing 35 staff.

Many of them wouldn't get a job anywhere else.

-Have you got ADHD?

-I did have it.

Then you've still got it.

-What?

-You've still got ADHD.

-Have I?

-Yes.

18-year-old Boyle is the youngest member of the team.

He's also the yard gofer.

Left school when I were 13-14 and just worked here.

Terry said he'd give me a job for life so I never went back to school.

Boyle always gets second chances,

because he reminds me of what I was like when I was his age.

Because I wasn't the best of kids.

I ended up in a children's home and people gave me a chance

and I feel I should pass that on.

Before he went away, Terry gave Boyle the job of filling

containers, or bowsers, with copper wiring from car dashboards.

Human snipper, I am.

Won't get no-one doing better than me doing this.

Terry wants me to do it.

Got to get 100 bowsers, but I've got 20 up to now,

so not that far off. Only need...80 more.

I am big on the job, me. I do it well.

I do it really well.

Terry can sell copper to a buyer in Poland for two grand a tonne.

But he's got to sell in volume and Boyle is behind schedule.

While I've been away now, I've had reports of you slacking.

-Yeah.

-So why?

-I don't know.

-You knew what you had to do.

Yeah, I know, I have been doing it, but not as much.

Well, why, though? I don't understand.

Really you should being doing more, not less. How many is there?

Two... Nine... I can't count.

We've not had that many cars to strip.

Awwww, excuse.

Making excuses. I don't know.

But Boyle may have a point about the lack of cars.

As a rule of thumb, we are bringing in between 30-35, sometimes

40 cars a day. And yesterday was 22 or 21 or something like that.

So, yeah, influx was down.

With the pressure of the weekly wage bill looming,

Terry's decided to take action.

Despite Lyndsay's views on his spending, he's hoping to make

some quick cash, by bagging a few bargains at a local car auction.

We'll just have a quick mooch when we get there. Have a look round.

I'll show you what to try and spot.

It's also a chance to train his son Jon,

who runs their second-hand car lot.

-What have we got now? 60...62.

-Ford Fiesta.

That's too new. It doesn't say here what's wrong with them,

so you've got to just go and have a mooch.

I absolutely love buying cars. That's it, isn't it?

I want to spend money. I've got money. I want to spend it.

I'm basically looking for cars that stand out to me,

which look lonely. Like, what is the SP with that?

If you look at it, it's quite a tidy car, apart for the mirror.

I've got a mirror.

I've got everything to totally rebuild that.

Got a little cheap runner just sitting there doing nothing.

I'm bidding on the vehicles that nobody else wants.

Where's Jon? Jon! Come here!

Let me try and teach you something.

This car, I know, in this auction will be too dear to break.

Not got a lot going for it. Air bags have gone off, you know,

pretty much all of them and you've got to fix down that side.

I think this car is in or around two grand.

At the yard, Boyle is getting busy.

But on all the wrong things.

I've posted that scooter on Gumtree.

He's got his own little sideline going, with an old scooter.

But Terry don't know about that, because it's in work hours.

I shouldn't have done it, but I have done.

Hey! You OK?

It's there. Do you want to see it? It's only for parts.

Everything's been sold off it.

It's only worth about £60, engine and all that.

I'll just sell it like that now.

Get rid of it, innit? Buy it, you sell it.

How old is he now, 18?

It's like he's a 12-year-old.

Want me own yard, called Boyle's Breakers.

A scrapyard, like this.

For Boyle, that's normal behaviour.

He gets under your skin. It's like having a second kid.

I think he's Terry's little protege, so...

-Does he gets away with murder?

-He gets away with murder.

Hiya!

'09, the year, round the clock, miles again there, 24...

Know what he said? You know that Fiesta on the car park,

the one that's smashed on the side?

They've refused four grand.

It's not my cup of tea, Jon. I'd rather just do it online.

Terry's still desperate to buy, but not at these prices.

These vehicles here now today are too dear,

so I am a little bit miffed.

You know, I've come to spend.

Been a good lad, so I don't think we'll upset our Lyndsay today.

We won't upset your mum.

Terry's back in the yard.

That skip, you need to push it down!

And he's discovered that things haven't been

running as efficiently as they should.

There's too many tyres going in there.

Tyres with good tread can be sold for £20 each.

But the lads have been dumping them in the skip.

-This is all gone to cock now, this...

-What has?

Half of them tyres in there are good.

Yeah, yeah, half of them are.

Why put them in the scrap skip?

He tries to do everything himself.

He takes control of every part of the yard, all the jobs, everything.

But it's the pressure on him and that's why he bawls and shouts.

But they get shouted at for things that they're not doing right.

How you can laugh, I do not know!

I'm smiling, because I've seen you.

Engine specialist Little Dave is also in the firing line.

Dave, there's 20 engines here that are not on the list

I've come in this morning at half past six, especially,

gone through them and put them all back on.

Very good, but you're going to have to stay now

till gone half past six, to get them all back out again.

Little Dave was meant to stack 100 engines for export to Dubai.

The order is worth 15 grand.

You're just making the job proper hard.

My mistake that. I hold my hands up for that. I'll sort it.

Nice one.

Do you e-mail one another and think

"Right, tomorrow, we're going

"to create a conspiracy, just to wind Terry up"?

I would never do that, cos I know what you're like

when you're mad and I don't like it. It scares me.

LAUGHTER

Dave has worked at the yard for ten years.

I've not too long been out of prison

and I was struggling getting jobs.

If it wasn't for Terry, I'd probably either be dead now,

or doing life in prison or something,

so I do owe him a lot.

Done. How long was that?

25 mins.

Ahh! That's a bad time, that.

Cos we were talking and getting emotional.

David, your dinner's ready.

SHE LAUGHS

Sisters Debs and Michelle have run the on-site cafe

for the last five years.

Our role is agony aunt.

Nurse.

Yeah. Doctor, I have diagnosed.

Diagnosed, yeah. Moneylender.

Moneylender. I lend money.

It's a case of, if they have any problems, they'll come and...

The majority of times, when they have a problem,

it might be over something at home with the missus or whatever.

-And they might want to get it out a bit.

-Sounding off.

-Sounding off.

-Someone to sound off to.

What's the saying?

A problem shared is a problem halved.

Yeah, that's the one.

Look at that, look at that. Ooh, yes.

How's things with you, David?

-Not good.

-Not good, love? Why?

It's our Terry on one again in yard.

It's just a bit emotional sometimes, when he goes at you.

And he's having a go at you and you think, "Why me?"

It winds me up sometimes.

He knows I can take it, but it's not about knowing you can take it.

-It still hurts, doesn't it?

-Course it hurts.

-Thank you for my dinner.

-No probs.

-I'm always here for me boys.

-OK.

You've got to keep laughing, cos if you don't, you'll cry.

You would. Well, I would, at this moment in time,

because I'm menopausal.

SHE LAUGHS

Just hold on, because I'm having a...

a hotty.

Warm.

There's more frustration for Terry.

I feel like I want to rip his head off.

He's just found out about Boyle's secret scooter.

-Right now, I'm absolutely wound up to the

-BLEEP.

I haven't given you permission to buy anything. Don't buy nothing.

Everything's got to be through a proper procedure.

Paperwork, procedure, receipts - everything. Do you understand?

-Yeah.

-Right, I want you to get all these tyres here into that skip

and I want a proper working area making here, yeah?

Crack on and do the job right.

Every vehicle in the yard must have all the right documents.

It's a rule Terry is very strict about.

It's been round the back, unbeknown to Terry,

for him to sell the parts of it for his own money.

-What's he like?

-It's really out of order, that, isn't it?

He'll never learn. Ever.

There will always be something with Boyle. Always.

Without paperwork, Terry doesn't want the scooter on the yard.

There's only one place for it.

MUSIC: "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Edvard Grieg

He was very, very, very close to being sacked today.

I had to walk away, to regain some normality in my head,

because I just wanted to rip his head off and kick him up the backside

and send him on his way.

I want to make my own scrapyard, so I'm trying to buy things to

start it off, but Terry doesn't like it, so I've had to stop.

Boyle's plan for his own yard will have to wait.

Today, he's lucky to still have a job.

I think everybody has a soft spot for Boyle.

He's a nice character, I don't know what it is about him.

-Just cos he's a lad.

-Yeah.

But he's silly.

He's no concentration. He used to have that ADH.

-D.

-Is it? AD...

It's ADHD, not ADH.

Oh, right.

Nobody else would get away with what Boyle gets away with.

Terry, must remind him of himself, when he were that age.

That's what it is.

It's quite uncanny, really, cos he actually looks like him,

-as well, when he were young.

-Does he?

-Yeah.

At some point, I thought he might be his dad.

He does favour him.

He used to be friendly with Boyle's mum when they were at school.

Oh, now, there's a story coming here now.

But Boyle's only 18. Well... I don't know if I can say this.

But Terry had the snip...

LAUGHTER

If one got out, I don't know. You never know, do you?

I shouldn't be saying that.

-He'll kill ya!

-I know.

It's the end of a difficult day.

Terry is still worried there aren't enough cars coming in.

So he makes a big decision and hits the live online auctions.

I'm in greedy mode. I need more metal.

I need more cars.

Yeah, bid on it now. Bid on it.

I think there's wages in that, me.

He's combing the country for bargains.

-Ooh, look at that Peugeot. I like them.

-GTI, that.

Come on, bring it on! Bring it on!

Ooh, I could do with that.

Caught it, our kid!

I've just bought an Audi A4 S line for three grand on an '05.

I think there's wages in that.

Does Lyndsay know you're on auctions yet?

-No.

-She'll kill you. She'll go absolutely mental.

Why would she? I'm trying to make money for the company here.

Is there no more open, no?

No, that's it, mate, for today.

Next one's in the morning.

It's Friday - payday.

And the extent of Terry's online spending is just starting

to dawn on the finance team.

Basically, Terry just, literally, blitzed the bank

and spent everything that we had.

This is our folder for the auctions.

That's ten cars and that's just from one auction.

Then, it just goes on and on and on.

There's absolutely loads.

He's spent the lads' wages on cars.

I've just had a bit of an e-mail through.

Turn advertising off, don't buy any more cars.

Volunteers for weekend off, as there is no money for wages

and we need to cut back.

If we don't have enough money for the wages,

then all the lads will be kicking off downstairs.

The minute Lyndsay comes in and finds out that he's spent

all this money, she's going to go mad.

He's gone absolutely mad on these auctions.

I don't know why he does this. I don't.

-I'm fuming.

-You're twitching.

I know! No wonder, I've got one nerve left. One!

And he's getting on it.

He won't listen. He's going to ruin the business, honestly.

He needs to calm down.

Lyndsay's texted me this...

"This is ridiculous,

"We've got to sell everything before you buy.

"It's out of control now,

"so we're nowhere near enough for the wages.

"What am I going to do? What am I going to do?!"

Bloody hell. Needs to take a chill pill, doesn't she?

What's the point in flapping?

Just because I've spent a few quid on stock.

She says "Don't buy no more cars!"

Without stock, what have you got?

My biggest problem is that I introduced Lyndsay to the business.

I shouldn't have done that, really.

Cos now it's all about business at home and at work.

It's affecting me personally now.

It's really getting on my nerves.

You're working with him, not against him.

-Yeah. But he's working against me.

-Yeah.

Cos he's not listening.

That's it. I'm getting emotional now.

Come on. Come on.

You flap over nothing.

I'm not flapping over nothing, Terry!

11,000 overnight has come out.

That's what you've spent.

I've spent 15 grand on cars.

You can only buy stock if you're in profit.

That's how I see it.

You are nowhere near in profit.

But yet, you've gone out and spent that without asking.

Without saying. You don't speak to us about it.

You just go and do it.

I've not just gone out willy-nilly -

"Yeah, just buy that, get that, just buy that."

I've bought stuff we can sell.

All I know is, if your shelves are empty,

you try and put stock back on them.

You need to sell more before you start buying.

Everything is still here.

So, you need to start selling some.

Concentrate on doing that.

You blow everything out of proportion.

-I'm not blowing it out of proportion.

-I've got it all sussed,

as to what's going on.

So, if how you're running it is right, where's the profit?

£5,000 a day you're already spending on cars.

What are we working for?

What are we working for?!

She looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp.

Face like a bag of hacksaw blades.

I don't think I've ever seen Lyndsay that upset.

I've never seen her upset. She always, kind of, laughs it off.

-I know.

-It's a shame.

But, I mean, you've got to speculate to accumulate.

She knows that.

But I think he's just speculating a bit too much.

Bloody hell, Jon.

I feel jittery, because there's just nothing actually moving.

Terry's second-hand car lot, run by son Jon,

can sometimes generate a quick turnover, if the price is right.

-Is this running?

-Yeah.

Just put it on at 495.

Do that for nine... Tell him to put that on the system at 995.

That's scrap and that's scrap.

Andy, that one's running, ain't it?

Right, so put that on at 995, yeah?

Put this on at 495.

Just to make things start to move.

There's a lot of tension in the office today,

because we're all panicking that there's not enough money

to pay the staff.

They've done nothing wrong.

They just want to earn their wages.

-These are the takings for today.

-Thank you, ta.

It's not a very good day, at all.

Got bills to pay, mate. Little mouths to feed.

I've just thought I'd buy a new couch and all that.

So I won't be paying for my couch if I've no wages.

You'll be sitting on cardboard boxes.

If I don't get cash tonight,

I'll have no food all weekend.

Seriously.

I live from paycheck to paycheck, me.

David, David...

Debs and Michelle are also getting worried.

Can never find, when I've got that many names in this...

Oh, there we go.

Friday is the day they get their money off the lads.

Minus 1.50. Right.

-What do they owe now?

-15.60.

Obviously, they're tick books, because they're skint on a Monday.

If I give them tick, then I get a wage at the end of the week.

-Sometimes.

-If they pay.

-If they pay.

What time's wages?

Sandra, what time's wages?

The wife would not be very happy.

She's at home now, waiting for me to pick the kids up

and do the shopping.

So I won't be able to do the shopping without my wage.

They're still over a grand down and running out of options.

Are we doing any money down there?

Jemma calls her brother Jon at the car lot.

Result. All right. See you in a bit.

-Wow, I forgot about that.

-Woo-hoo!

Jon's saved the day. He's sold a couple of cars.

We've done it. Everybody's getting paid now.

But it were close.

It were close. Again.

Nice one, mate.

There's 17 there.

Good do, matey. You've saved the day, yeah?

What a good do.

You always come up trumps.

Ta.

No, there's no luck today. You don't deserve any luck.

There you go.

The crisis is over this week

and everyone can look forward to Friday night.

There's not much talent knocking about in this yard.

Majority of them have either got no teeth, a thousand kids...

No car, no credit.

Yeah. Pay as you go, no go.

Wages, please. Thanks very much.

-See you later!

-Mind that car!

-NATALIE:

-Cos you work with them, you can't actually see them in that way.

But, if we were single,

probably a couple, on a night out. That's about it.

Boyle's cute, but he's a baby.

Yeah. Boyle's like a little annoying brother.

-DEBS:

-Boyle!

Just get down here now!

HIS SPEECH IS INAUDIBLE

Come on, Boyle.

Tick book.

Oh, God.

You OK, Lyndsay?

Nanna Lyndsay, this.

Nanna! I'm less than a nanna!

You cheeky...

LAUGHTER

Boyle...

You've got 50p change!

I've got it, though. I've got it.

I can't believe it myself. I've got it!

It's been touch and go but, for the time being, everyone's happy.

Well, almost everyone.

Terry's still smarting after his run-in with Lyndsay.

What I'm going to do, I'm going to play by her rules for a while

and see how it goes.

So, I won't go to no auctions, I won't buy anything

that I've not got permission to buy.

In fact, I won't buy anything.

I'll just come in the yard and be a mug rat

for as long as she wants me to be.

And let's see what happens.

Jump in, pal!

Come on, lad, up you go there!

Worst-case scenario, if Boyle's in that machine,

could drop a car on someone.

-Have you bought any more cars recently?

-No.

He's doing what I told him to now.

He's finally listening.

If we get more efficient, we won't need as many staff.

Some of them may have to lose their jobs

We'll see.

MUSIC: "Libiamo ne' lieti calici" by Giuseppe Verdi