Episode 1 Cash Britain

The UK is in the grip of the worst financial crisis in decades

and we're all feeling the pinch.

With prices going up but wages coming down, more and more people

are turning to the world's second oldest profession.

Pawn broking, it's amazing how many people come in and use us

when they've got no other alternative.

Pawnbrokers will loan against anything. From the precious...

You're up to 50K for the centre diamond alone.

-..To the bog standard.

-Um, I think it's a Crapper.

They step in where even bankers fear to tread.

This is the last throw of the dice by one family to save the company.

-Got all six there?

-Six there, yeah.

But they too, charge for their services.

Grand total that comes to is £368.51.

And for some that can be the last straw.

Well, some days I don't eat, because I can't really afford to.

Welcome to Cash Britain.

For six months, our cameras have been following the pawn business

in Birmingham.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

A lot of people come to us because they'd rather borrow money

than actually sell their items.

We've gained a unique insight into this world...

They come in and pawn their gold that they've got.

-How much d'you want on that, darling?

-About £50 if you can.

-3, 4, 5.

..Revealing the reasons that bring punters through the door.

I need to give my daughter some money to help her out.

-So you're her guardian angel?

-I wouldn't go that far, no.

She's made a complete shemozzle about everything, but she's 62.

-Oh.

-I'm 61!

-60...!

THEY ALL LAUGH

Voila!

Meet Samantha, she's a full time mum to ten-year-old Jordan

and five-year-old Georgina who suffers chronic lung disease.

She wants to take them

to her brother's passing out parade from the Royal Navy.

It means everything to, to be there for my brother.

Darren hasn't really done much with his life, you know,

he's been in a lot of trouble, so I want my kids to see

their uncle Darren achieving and doing something with his life.

But with her husband's wage only covering the day-to-day essentials,

Samantha's struggling to afford the 450-mile round trip to Plymouth.

OK, are you going to be good for five minutes, then?

We haven't had a very good year this year and with our daughter,

she's had lots of surgery this year.

We've got bills coming out of our ears and, I've got direct debits

going out on the 1st, going out on the 5th and then

I've got a couple more direct debits for the end of the month

and unfortunately there isn't a spare £90 lying around

for diesel money to get all the way down there to watch him pass out.

Samantha's only option is to pawn some of her most prized possessions.

-Are you all right there?

-Hiya, you all right? It's my first time in a pawn shop.

A virgin pawner.

Just, just a short loan really.

-Have you got a figure what you're looking for, or?

-Couple of hundred?

You've obviously got plans for this money then.

Yes. Diesel money, to go and watch my brother pass out for the Royal Navy.

Oh that's all right, innit? It's a good reason to pawn it, really.

-But I want them back though.

-Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's all rings that mean a lot to me - my engagement ring,

a little ring that my mum had that was given to her from her dad.

A friendship ring that my husband gave to me when we first got together

and my Nan's wedding ring.

And they always says to me, "If you find yourself in trouble,

"this is your, to fall back on kind of thing."

One of the old fashioned 22 carat wedding rings, probably got a bit of family history.

They don't use a lot of 22 carat nowadays

cos it's just too expensive, but in those days

that's what everybody had, they all had D-shaped 22 carat wedding rings.

Well, you've got about 130 there.

-Yeah, that'll be...

-It's a bit less than you wanted but,

it is done purely on the weight of the metal.

-Will that do you?

-Yeah.

She might be a bit short of her 200 quid target,

but there's something Samantha won't part with.

When my daughter was born, she was critically ill on the neonatal unit

and she was on life support for like seven weeks, of her life,

my husband got me that Mum ring, so yeah,

that one meant a lot to me as well but that's staying on my finger!

-There you, are my love.

-Lovely,

if I could reach through, I'd shake your hand

but, I understand why they're there.

-Yeah, it's, it's to keep us from attacking the customers.

-For wanting more money!

-Have a good day tomorrow, my love, bye.

-Bye-bye.

-Ta-ta mate, bye.

Three nine carat rings, and that's the star of the show, the 22 carat one in there.

That's a tank of diesel for her, basically.

For more than 30 years,

this family firm has been helping Brummies make ends meet.

This is Gez my brother. Tell us what you do, Gez?

-I do online pawn.

-HE LAUGHS

This is Sammy, my sister.

I'm the one that tells my dad exactly what I think

and I say it how it is. And I get away with it.

-What do I do, Sam?

-He gets in at 11 and leaves at 2.

And I have an hour for lunch.

Handmade silver antique cat,

get arrested by the RSPCA for holding it like that, wouldn't I?

Got one member missing from the core and that's Daddy.

THEME FROM THE GODFATHER

Dad's the boss, he's the gaffer.

This is Dad.

I've built this business up as a legacy for you to pass on,

and to give you a good lifestyle and a good living for the future.

Birmingham was once known as the workshop of the world.

But the city's been hit hard by the credit crunch

and even well-established companies

are having to turn to the pawnbrokers for help.

Meet Martin. His job is to bail out businesses in trouble.

With the economic climate at the moment,

with the banks and the Government the way they are,

they're not lending any money at all so the only person that you can really come to

and who's lending money at the moment,

who's got more balls than the bank, is the pawnbrokers.

-Morning, Gez.

-How you doing?

-Not bad, how's things?

-Not too bad. You've got these diamonds for us to have a look at?

-Yeah, got the bracelet and ring.

Martin's trying to save a factory who can't get a bank loan to cover the wages.

They've got payroll to pay and also

there's a pressing requirement to get the bank overdraft down

because the banks are all foreclosing on them.

With 30 jobs on the line, the boss has asked Martin

to cash in the family jewels to save the firm.

I brought along two bracelets, all platinum and gold

with diamonds in, a seven to eight carat diamond ring.

That one's worth approximately, we think, 75,000 in a real good day,

so let's see what we can do. There's probably £150,000

worth of goods there. We have to get 35,000 today.

Else the bank foreclose.

Pawnbrokers will only lend

a percentage of the value of your goods.

So even with gems worth a fortune,

there's no guarantee Martin will raise the readies.

-That is a rock isn't it?

-Is your dad around to help you out?

Yeah, yeah, I'll give him a shout.

-Dad?

-Yeah.

Can you come down a second, have a look at these diamonds that Martin just brought in?

It's above my discretionary power, this one. I think.

-Dad, Martin bought these in, look.

-Blimey, they're nice.

How much d'you need, Martin?

35,000, Gez. See what you can offer quickly.

This is the last throw of the dice by one family to save the company.

When d'you need the money by?

-Next 10 minutes.

-What?!

If the 30 jobs are to be saved, Martin needs £35,000 fast.

It's not just large loans.

All sorts of businesses are having to rely on the pawnbrokers

to ease their cash flow problems.

Hiya.

Two years ago, Paul and Ez started their own cleaning company.

But in the last few months they've had to lay off staff

because of a cash crisis.

We have got the work, we are busy, we are making money but, cash flow,

is the route to a company kind of, you know, flowing.

Despite a full order book,

some customers aren't coughing up on time.

And while Paul and Ez wait for their cash, the banks won't bail them out.

-We don't meet the criteria.

-There's lots of different boxes that perhaps

we don't tick in order to be eligible for the loan.

We can't walk away from it, cos we've still got bills to pay.

To plug the gap, they've borrowed 750 quid against their jewellery.

When they first came in, they were borrowing the money to

pay off some bills that they'd got, and also people's wages, that week.

So it was kind of, we need the money now.

Believe it or not, they said, "We're coming in to you

"and we need 750 quid now, but we're due £10,000."

That was seven months ago, and now the pawn debt is mounting up.

All right, darling.

Hiya, how are you?

I'm fine. And how have you been keeping?

Same story, unfortunately.

Still struggling, people not paying.

-So...

-It's a nightmare, Karl.

A pickle, complete pickle.

They've got some cash, but only enough to pay off the interest.

Is it the one that was 750 loan?

That's right.

The monthly rate is 8.5%,

costing them just shy of £64 a month.

I think the price I was told was 446 or something around that.

-446.25.

-That's right, yeah.

I am a jewellery lover. I like bling.

They're all jewellery that I wouldn't consider getting rid of at all

but I'm able to temporarily use

in order to put some money back into the business.

I remember when my old man started, the banks wouldn't give us

any more monies to carry on and my father had to go

and pledge his items with another pawnbroker,

our competitor now, to actually get, money to carry on.

-2, 4, 6...

-They've bought themselves more time,

but if their customers don't pay up soon,

Paul and Ez could lose their business AND their jewels.

I'll put them back in the safe for you,

when you come in next time, you'll be taking them out.

I'll be slipping them on.

You have a good day, thank you.

-OK, darling, you take care.

-Bye.

-Take care, both of you bye-bye.

Small businesses need cash flow.

Without the cash flow you could sink or swim.

Pawning is best suited to short term loans,

because the longer you leave your items, the more they'll cost you.

50-year-old Michelle can't get a job because she suffers severe epilepsy.

These are medications what I take.

It's six of those and four of these.

Take two of these, 14, 15, 16 tablets.

Every day.

It's a wonder I don't be rattling, all the tablets I've been taking.

Four years ago after her dad died,

Michelle got into financial difficulties.

Living on benefits, the pawnbrokers was the only place

she could get some extra cash.

She borrowed nearly £600 against her gold.

Wedding ring, an ID bracelet, earrings,

we've got ladies rings, her items mean an awful lot to her.

They were left to her by her mother and father.

I think possibly there's somewhere between £3,500-4,000 worth of items.

Over the years, she's probably paid in excess of £2,000 in interest.

The high price of gold means selling just one or two of her items

would completely clear the debt.

But for sentimental reasons, Michelle won't part with any of it.

All right, darling.

What's kicking, Uncle Karl, what you saying?

-How are you?

-You all right?

-You OK?

-Yeah, man.

Instead, she's just paying the interest.

Today, it's seven months' worth.

These have been in here some years, haven't they?

-Oh, yes.

-You've been extending them and extending them.

I've been extending them and extending them.

I could have bought an house by now, couldn't I, love?

Couldn't I? Be truthful.

MICHELLE LAUGHS

-We've got all six there.

-Six there, yes.

OK, grand total that comes to is 368.51.

I've got 400. Got some change for you as well, eh?

Good one, Uncle Karl!

That's nice.

31.49 change, darling.

And they'll be due up on the 13th of April.

Not on a Friday, is it?

If it is, I'll see you Saturday.

Because I ain't coming out Friday,

ain't coming out on 13th of April, if it's on a Friday!

Forget that. No, I don't like it, I'm superstitious.

-You take it easy, have a nice day.

-Yeah, you have a nice day.

-Enjoy yourself.

-See you everybody.

-Take care, darling.

-See you later, Sam.

-Bye-bye.

The smiles mask Michelle's day to day struggles

of managing on incapacity benefits of £80 a week.

If I didn't pawn my jewellery I'd probably be living on the street,

to tell you the truth. I'm not ashamed to say that.

Many times I wouldn't have no food, I wouldn't be able to pay my bills.

Some days I don't eat because,

you can't really afford to.

Food prices are too high, you know,

sometimes all these things get me down and...

..sometimes I've even think about, you know,

ending my life,

because, you can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

But, I have my Rebel to think about.

He keeps me going.

I think it does make life hard for her with her illnesses.

She never goes on about it, though.

Whenever she comes in and sees me, we always have a laugh.

I don't want to sell them.

Sentimental value. From my parents, you get me?

That's why I didn't sell them. They're safe where they are.

Maybe one day I'll be able to get them out, but not for now.

Will Michelle ever find a way to buy back her gold?

That's a good boy.

Insolvency expert Martin is trying to save a local factory and 30 jobs.

He needs to raise £35,000 by pawning the owner's diamonds.

Daddy's called in gemologist Jackie to give the stones the once-over.

Now, he tells they'd like to borrow up to £35,000 on these.

A lot of money, yeah. Well, we'll break it down

into the value of the diamonds, and then you can work out

whether it's worth you borrowing on it to that value or not, right?

In the shops, these diamonds would sell for £150,000,

but the trade price is rock bottom,

and that's what decides the pawn value.

It's sometimes quite hurtful to say to somebody.

Like that ring, that could be 70,000 quid insurance valuation,

but we won't lend anything like that.

So will they lend 35,000?

Valuation on the diamonds alone is about £11,000.

-Right, if I went out today to sell that for cash money...

-Yeah.

What would I be able to sell it for?

Cos I'll tell you what I think I'd get.

About five grand.

I think five and a half.

Yeah.

The ring, Gerry, is a very big diamond.

Where would you want to be, lending him some money on that?

The trade price.

You're up to 50K,

so at the end of the day I'd offer half. 25.

Well, we're getting somewhere now.

We're up to £30,000 and he's looking for 35, so it's down to this now.

The fate of the factory now rests on this last row of rocks.

Diamond-wise in this, you're talking 1,470

for the outside stones.

The oval stones is about 4.5 carats x £800 a carat,

36, plus your platinum.

-So we're up to five grand on that.

-Yeah.

-Just about it.

You're just about in.

Time for the Guvnor to deliver his verdict.

OK, Gez, how are we doing?

Um, I've had the expert look at it.

Yep.

-We've had the trade valuation on it, and it's near enough.

-OK.

I can lend you the 35,000.

OK, lovely. Deal done.

-So this will keep the company going?

-Yes.

When you need money in business and you're really desperate,

this is one way of doing it, isn't it?

They're putting their assets up.

It's helping them get to where they want,

and that's what people need and today, the banks aren't doing that.

Thank you, Gerry, see you later.

This, on the day, saves 30 jobs

and a business that's been going 110 years.

The family don't just deal with gold and jewels.

Now we're going to take you into what I call Aladdin's cave.

All sorts of things pass through the back room.

This was the Olympic torch from the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games,

and it was signed by Muhammad Ali.

There's things like the old saxophones.

Antique toy cars, a violin. I like to pull this out

when Sam's having a bit of a moan.

I mean, I think that's beautiful.

There's all sorts of stuff in here, a real little treasure trove.

Old sword collection we've got here, look. Some of these items,

you get left with them that long, it's hard to part with them.

But there's one item that's found a place in Gez Junior's heart.

It's a vintage car that once belonged to King George VI.

Every day, I've been coming and sitting in this car

and looking at it and imagining myself being the King.

Built in Birmingham, the King ran the Lanchester

as his own personal vehicle.

I bet he wrote...he could have wrote The King's Speech in this car.

But imagine, driving around...

Sandringham, or whatever they call it.

"G-g-g-get out the way".

No, actually, I disagree with that,

because he was so calm in his car, I bet he didn't stutter at all.

I really feel very proud of Gerald, what he does and how he tries.

"Move out the way! Do you know who I am?"

But sometimes it's like trying

to put a pint glass of beer into a half-pint glass.

You have to wait till his brain grows a little to get it in.

Honk, honk, honk.

The car's owner, Mike, bought it at auction for 30 grand

and then borrowed the same amount against the royal runabout.

I need to get some money out of it.

I needed to release some capital for something else I was doing,

and where better to go than someone who'll accommodate you on that?

But secondly, this is a big old car.

Now, I've got a reasonably sized house,

but I've got nowhere to put it, actually,

and one of the great things about using Uncle's is,

they store it for free.

There's a few dents in it, Mike.

Well, there's a few dents,

but you don't kick the tyres to identify a dent, do you?

No, but, you know, it's a bit of tyre kicking.

What are you kicking the bloody tyres for?

Now Mike has agreed to sell the car to Uncle's.

But Gez needs to get an independent valuation

to make sure they get it for the right price.

While Gez plans his purchase strategy,

Michelle's working on how to buy back her gold.

And she's turning to her Uncle Stan for help.

I like it when I come down here, it's lovely.

It's like, it reminds me of being in Jamaica. It's good.

It's nice, makes your body feel good.

Stan grows his own, allowing Michelle to put some money aside.

When I give her the cabbage, potatoes and pumpkin,

it stop her from buy those things,

and she can spend the money for something else.

But rather than paying off more interest...

-Oh!

-Hello!

-Hello!

-Long time, no see.

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, good, how are you?

-All right, not bad.

..Michelle is starting to buy back her gold.

I want to see

what I can get out a little bit, like a little bit of jewellery.

Anything in particular?

I have to see what I can get for 50 quid.

OK, how much have you got, sorry?

-50.

-50, OK. Have you been saving up for it?

-Yeah.

-Ah, that's good.

We've got one there which would clear it. It's 48.20.

Oh, yeah, that'll do.

So what have we got there? We've got the chain.

-Oh, right.

-And your initials.

-Yeah, cool, yeah, yeah.

-Get on there, bit of that.

-Yes, Uncle Karl, very nice.

-Is that good? Put a nice little shine on there for you.

-Thank you.

It's a nice chain.

This has been missing for me for a long time.

Do you want me to come round

-and give you a hand with that?

-Yeah, please.

-OK.

-Cos I got these big fat fingers, man.

Let's have a look. Pull it down, yeah.

Yeah, you are short, see.

-I'm taller than you.

-I know you are.

-See?

-You OK? Yeah.

-Nice to see you.

-And you.

I feel that happy, if I had wings, I could fly round the sky.

I swear to God. I do, I really feel happy today.

Yeah, this makes me smile.

The King's car is up for grabs,

and Jeremy the auctioneer has come along

to give Gez a realistic valuation.

It does need some work, doesn't it?

-TLC.

-Doesn't half.

Oh, you can see here. Jeremy,

they had this fantastic air conditioning system

that they had in those days.

Let's go and sit in the car.

Original upholstery?

Original upholstery in there at the moment.

The Queen Mother would sit here.

This is where the Queen would have sat.

-Yeah.

-And the old, er...

-Everyone would have smoked in those days.

Yeah, the old ashtrays. Right, then, we'd better "g-g-g-g-get out".

It might have a great history, but what's it worth today?

It's an expensive thing to do, restoration.

If it's a business matter, you need to do your sums

and weigh it up, cos it needs to appreciate quite a lot

to get that return

on that kind of level.

-I think 40 to 50 would be my feel.

-OK.

-In the state it's in, really.

What if I was to spend,

say £30,000, £40,000 doing it up, what kind of value would it be then?

You don't often see the money back

if you're investing for other reasons than to own and to love.

Yes, ultimately, the market will decide.

OK, that's great. Thank you very much, Jeremy,

I really appreciate that. Thank you, mate, cheers.

If it's going to take a king's ransom to buy and do up,

is it worth the bother?

Mum of two Samantha doesn't have any spare cash.

We've got bills coming out of our ears,

and unfortunately there isn't a spare £90 lying around for diesel money.

She pawned four rings so she and her kids could go

to brother Darren's Royal Navy passing out parade.

Well, you've got about 130 there.

And with the cash, they made it.

Had a lot of things going against me,

you know, the fact that I had no money and I had to pawn the rings,

but I was that determined, I made sure I was going to get there.

That was the best day of my life, knowing you and the kids were there.

-Oh!

-You know, thank you for coming.

You know what, I wouldn't have missed it for the world, Daz.

At the time I didn't know that my sister had pawned

all her rings to get down to see me. In fact,

if I'd have known, I'd probably have told her not to.

Now he does look like a sailor, doesn't he?

It's a moment that needs to be shared with the family.

Everything was just brilliant, and Jordan enjoyed it

and he was just looking around, being amazed with all the people that were there.

For my family to share all that with me is the best,

and you can't ask for any more than that.

I am glad I made that decision,

because I know I can get my rings back, and my family's worth it.

Definitely, my brother's worth it.

THEY CHEER

King George's limo now belongs to Uncle's.

They did a deal worth 43 grand,

and now Gez and his dad are en route to the restorers

to find out if it's a good investment.

We both have no idea of what the final cost will be,

but then again I suppose with any project we do,

if we knew what it cost before we started,

we probably wouldn't do them.

Never before has such a poor man

owned such a rich man's "c-c-c-car".

-Right then, this is it.

-There she is.

We're going to take it down

-to the metal.

-All the way?

-Yes.

-Everywhere.

-Yeah.

-These will get re-chromed and nickel plated.

-Yeah.

There's a lot of timber in it that'll probably need replacing.

This material here, we're looking to get hold of.

-Yeah.

-But if we can't, we'll have it made.

-What kind of timescale do you think this is?

-At least 12 months.

-Oh, OK.

-Mm-hmm.

-I thought that.

The repair costs are mounting.

But there's one consolation...

ENGINE STARTS

..at least the car starts.

Oh, it's beautiful. It's a lovely engine.

It's still nice and tight,

and as it was when it was built.

So how much will it cost to repair?

At the moment, what kind of ballpark figure are we looking at?

Hundred grand at least.

Right.

Gez's worst fears have come true.

There's only one thing that can save his skin now.

What do you think the car could potentially be worth?

I mean, of similar cars going through,

I would have thought half a million at least.

Oh, my God.

-And if it was, you don't mind spending the money do you?

-No.

Thank you very much.

When we sell it, then, what's my cut? For the hard work.

Oh, get lost. What do you know about restoring cars?

You know as much about restoring cars as eating that grass.

Unbelievable.

Half a million quid? We'd better ring Karl.

Next time: Karl does an expensive spot of recycling.

Whoa, all that scrap that we've got.

-It doesn't look like 40 grand, does it?

-No.

A regular punter brings in some seriously heavy metal.

Use that as an anchor chain for the Titanic.

And hard times force one customer to sell his wedding ring.

Want to sell it?

But he's not told the wife.

I don't want to tell her because she will be angry.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd