28/11/2011 Inside Out South West

Hello and welcome to inside out hello and welcome to inside out

South West. Stories from close to home. Tonight, we catch up with the

South West debt adviser who left some of his clients seriously in

the red. Do you have anything else to say, Mr Hopley? Basically, I'm

penniless now. Because of debt busters. So I have to say, in a way,

the wrecked my life. Also tonight, the mountaineer and double amputee

from Devon who is reaching new heights. It is quite easy to waste

your life by not doing anything, and I just don't plan to live life

like that And John Cuthill on the challenge of creating an underwater

adventure. The aim is to fill this massive aquarium with over 50

species of shark, ray and tropical fish. I'm Sam Smith, and this is

Inside Out South West. First tonight, a self-styled debt doctor

who ended up costing some of his clients thousands of pounds.

Alistair McKee is in Somerset on the trail of a man who claims he

could sort out your finances, but, in many cases, made things a whole

The high street's busy, but, does anyone actually have the cash to

Today, the average man in the street owes almost �30,000. It's no

wonder, then, that debt management has become big business. But what

happens when a company that's supposed to help people pay off

their debt instead leaves them tens of thousands of pounds out of

pocket? I'm helpless. I don't think I'll ever see my money. I don't

think anyone else will. Personally, I would lock him away and throw

away the key. Simple as that. on the trail of the self-styled

debt doctor whose treatment left his clients feeling a lot worse.

Can I ask you what happened to your clients' money, Mr Hopley?$$CYAN

unfortunately, the way things are, they can no longer use that as an

escape mechanism. This is Jeremy Hockley. It's the height of the

credit crunch but from Mr Hockley, business is good. We're seeing

greater numbers of people called into the office, whether they be

personal and in trouble, or they be businesses. Mr Hockley runs debt Dr,

a company helping people trying to pay off their debts. Based on this

Somerset potato farm, the company flourished while times were tough.

It meant Mr Hockley, a former bankrupt with a string of failed

companies behind him, could now enjoy the high life. Living in a

smart home, and even sponsoring his favourite football team. Oxford

United. And all thanks to other people's debt. Our number one

client in terms of the amount, has gone up to 8.2 million. We've got

half a dozen people over �1 million, but are typical client is now well

over �60,000. And this is unsecured. And it really is starting to affect

everyone, every kind of background. One of those affected is writer,

Carol Gould. When you are up to your eyeballs in debt, it's a

horrible feeling, and it hangs over you. It is a terrible burden, a

terrible emotional and physical burden. Despite years as a

successful television executive, Carol saw her finances hit hard by

the failure of her own business and economic downturn. My endowments

didn't pay out, like a lot of people in Britain, my pension

didn't turn out the way I thought it would, so, I, in my 50s, found

myself, when I should have had no mortgage, being solvent, and facing

a very happy early retirement, ended up in mountains of debt.

Carol's debt grew, her health deteriorated. She was diagnosed

with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Her illness meant she

couldn't work. I've found, when I tried to use the computer... If

you're self employed and get ill, it's a fatal combination.

ironically, Carol's sickness was to provide her with a financial

lifeline. In 2009, her health insurance paid out a lump sum of

�21,500. Now she could face her creditors and, in the deb tDr, she

thought she had found a specialist who could help. It was wonderful to

have money that was mine. It was something that I had paid in for

years, and I gave it to debtDr to pay my credit card bills and,

debtDr, at that time, I thought was superb. They did well to get

creditors to stop phoning me. I wasn't well. That money was assumed

to be safe. It was all right. management is a regulated industry

and there are accepted standards whether the service is fee charging,

like debt Dr, or a charity like the citizens advice bureau. People in

debt should be extremely cautious before handing over any money to a

debt management company. They should be very clear that any money

they give is properly protected, in the event of something going wrong,

that those funds will be safe. debt Dr, things did go wrong.

Earlier this year, the company told clients it was going bust.

first thing I did was say, oh my God, my 21,500, all the money I

have in the world, all I had in the world. As soon as I heard that

debtDr had gone bust, I wrote, demanding that my money be put into

my own bank account, and sent it recorded delivery, and low and

behold, two weeks later, it came back refused, refused. And unopened.

My letter to debtDr head office, please, please, let me have my

cancelled money back. We have spoken to several former clients of

the company and they all have a similar story to tell. In many

cases they borrowed tens of thousands of pounds from family and

friends to give to debt Dr, and it's all just disappeared. Yet the

company's clients had every reason to believe the money should have

been safe. DebtDr operated through a network of 60 affiliated

financial advisers across the country. Advisers like Robin Seely.

I had somewhere between 30 and 40 clients at that time. A client

account would be opened in that client's name. The client was

assured that that money was safe and it was there purely for the

purpose of resolving a financial difficulties. And that, in fact, is

the wording of the agreement of the letter that was signed by them.

When the company went bust, the independent advisers were as

shocked as their clients. website went down, and any attempt

to contact the head office, either by e-mail or telephone, was met

with no response, and that was the first inkling that any of us had

that perhaps things were not as they should have been. I had no

contact whatsoever from Jeremy Hockley or anyone at debtDr, and

neither did any of my fellow consultants, either. It would seem

that we, along with clients, had been somewhat abandoned. So, what

happened to all the money? DebtDr was a trading name for Jeromy

Hockley's company, Hermes Financial Solutions. Its last filed accounts

show it had a �490,000 hole in his assets. And we discovered that, a

month before debtDr ceased trading, all the money held in supposedly

protected client accounts was moved into a single company accounts. To

find out what was left of his clients' money, Robin Seely took

Hermes financial solutions to court on their behalf. I believe

certainly that Mr Hockley was of the opinion that, because they were

all financially disadvantaged, no- one would be able to do anything

about it, and that all he would be a foreign need to do would be to

lie low for a couple of months and he would be free to pursue whatever

future he wanted. However, we have gone to the courts, and we have got

the company put into liquidation, and there will be questions for him

to answer. But finding Jeromy Hockley to answer those questions

isn't easy. No-one at debtDr's former farm headquarters knows

where he is. He is no longer here. The business ended just before

Easter. Any idea where he's gone? I'm afraid I don't know at all.

he leave owing rent? Yes. A lot? Yes, yes. So, we tried his home.

Jeremy Hockley's not here, in fact, he sold this house within the last

few weeks. For �400,000. But we have managed to track down Mr

Hockley to Yeovil, where he's started a new life, running a

nightclub. Mr Hockley? Can we have a word with you? Hello, Mr Hockley,

I'm from the BBC. Hello there. on, mate, come on. We want to ask

you what has happened to your clients money. Can I ask you what

has happened to your clients money, Mr Hockley? Mr Hockley? Mr Hockley?

Do you have anything to say? Do you have anything else to say, Mr

Hockley? Well, it seems Mr Hockley is unwilling to talk to us, and

quite where his clients' money has gone, is anyone's guess.

Liquidators are still investigating debtDr's books. In the meantime,

it's clear this is one doctor who has made his patients' condition a

lot worse. It is beyond belief that this man has done this. Basically,

I'm penniless now. Because of debtDr, so I have to say, in a way,

they wrecked my life. For most of us, climbing one mountain would be

a daunting enough challenge. Well, there's a Devon man in his 70s who

has scaled some of the world's highest peaks, and he's got no legs.

If that wasn't enough, he set himself an extraordinary new

At the age of 71, Norman Croucher from pop show and is learning to

fly. I've often say that life is like a muscle, and if you do not

stretch it, it wastes, and it is easy to waste your life by not

doing anything. And I don't want to live live like that. I have known

Norman for 40 years. I am surprised at what he might want to do next. -

- am not surprised. I think the fact I walk on two artificial legs,

has made things I do a lot more challenging. It's made things more

interesting in some ways. I'm just going to get out one of my spare l

legs. They're a very old fashioned design, but they work. And usually

I mark the shin if I am going on an expedition, I mark it right or left

here so if I break a leg someone fetches one they get the right one

or the left one, as they are not interchangeable. When I was 17 I

went on a rock climbing course, and I was absolutely hooked. And when I

lost my legs in a railway accident, I contacted a rock climbing

instructor very soon afterwards and said, do you think I could still

climb?" He said well I've always found legs handy when I've been

climbing, but let's see what you can do. Norman's climbed many of

world's biggest mountains, including Cho Oyo in Tibet at more

than 8000 metres. After so many ascents, he now wants to come down

in style. Age naturally slows you a bit, and I don't have the same arm

strength as I had so mountaineering is becoming more difficult. But

that doesn't mean that I am not looking for other adventures and in

particular in the mountains. But it struck me that stepping off the

mountain with a paraglider after climbing would be the easy way down.

I realized that I would probably not be able to run down to take off

like other people do and than I'd have to be very skilled to land

with these legs. To begin his training, Norman's travelled to

Cumbria, but the weather's not looking good. John Crosbie is an

old friend, and an expert in adventure sports for disabled

people. Hello Norman. The biggest barrier to people is what they

believe they can do and the opportunities they see open to them.

Particularly disabled people, do not seem themselves able to

participate in sports, as that's not what disabled people do. In

here we have a collection of buggies, it's a bit dusty and

horrible. I've never seen one of these, I have not even seen a

photograph so I have no idea what they look like. John has developed

a special buggy to help disabled people like Norman learn to fly.

And here's the latest idea which as you can see is just a development.

Now it's on a pair of legs so you're sitting upright in a much

better position. Now Norman has the buggy. All he needs is someone to

fly with. Hello Jocky, come on up Norman's already here. Ready to get

airborne? Can I go home now? Instead, Norman, John and

instructor Jocky Sanderson head for the hills. We're on our way up to

Latrig, there's a break in the weather and there's a chance that

we will be able to fly. I wanted to get on with it really and get up

there. We had chatted about the buggy in the morning, but

fortunately the weather came right just for a few minutes and I wanted

to get up there. Up a mountain, I am in charge of what I do. But

sitting there on the hillside, strapped into a buggy, I felt in a

sense helpless. I was completely reliant on the skills of the man

who was going to pilot. OK, Norman. Oh, I wish I had kept me big mouth

shut. No it's nice to arrive here and be able to it on the first day.

Sightly apprehensive, but excited for Norman's sake. It is something

that he has always wanted to do for a while, but never thought it was

going happen, but here it is. suddenly, the weather changes.

a little bit windy at the moment, so it is likely that Jocky is going

to come down the hill a lttile bit to where the wind won't be quite so

string and that's where we will have the best chance of getting off

this afternoon. It's like a I had to sell myself that I was not

This was just an instant thrill. One of the most thrilling things I

have ever done. We are down. No! That was great. We'll have to see

what the next stage is. It would be possible for Norman to

independently go up a mountain and fly off, however to get to that

skill level is going to involve a lot of work and a lot of commitment

and passion to the sport and this is not something that he is going

But someone forgot to tell Norman. He's now in Dorset with a new

instructor. He wants to paraglide on his own. He wants to Paraguay on

his own -- to paraglider on his own. Norman fancied having a go without

the buggy, so we've clipped him into the harness to see how mobile

he will be. Usually its starts with a good move into the wind.

Sometimes sideways, sometimes I think we've learned something

there, haven't we? For now, it seems a challenge too far. It will

be a problem, I can't run well enough with my legs to take off. I

don't feel any sense of failure in realisiing my limitations. And in

all the adventure sports I have promoted for disabled people, it's

always about finding out what you can do and what you can't do.

What's missing is the role models for disabled and older people to

participate, and that's where Norman has been a fantastic

ambassador for people with disabilities. Com'on then, let's

have a little go. Norman is still determined to fly. It was very

exciting to take the controls. The wind was very low, so I didn't go

very far, but I actually got off the ground. Yay! Lovely! Yes!

Anyone who has had to take a dog or cat to the vet will know what a

palaver it can be, moving animals. Spare a thought for the team from

the South West who had to transport 250 fish, including a dozen sharks,

across the country. John Cottle reports. Sting rays, sharks and

other tropical fish fascinate many, and large aquariums can be big

business, but when you're opening one of those big attractions,

getting there is no mean feat. In Windsor, their about to start work

on a massive aquarium with 2500 fish, and the submarine ride going

through it. This ambitious project has been two years and the planning.

The aim is to fill this aquarium with over 50 species of shark, Ray

and tropical fish, all of which are coming from Weymouth. Before they

are Rive, everything needs to be perfect. And the man making sure

that it is ready is Ian Green. What we're doing here is making sure

that when the fish come there is enough water so that we can put the

water from the truck into the aquarium. So we have good to go,

for the fish transport. It is the day before the biggest fish

transport to be done for the new aquarium, and, in Weymouth, it is

Chris Brown's job to make sure all the sharks are ready to travel. Is

there a risk? There is always a risk moving animals because it is

the most stressful time for them. We know how to reduce the stress

levels to the animals because we have been doing it for years. They

have not been fed for of the days, and this is very important, because

if you move and animal whilst it is just been fed, it would produce

waste and the water would get dirty, and that would affect animal and

that is what we want to avoid at all costs. Altogether, they will be

moving over 250 fish, including 12 sharks and 25 stingrays. A does all

about timing. Once the clock starts ticking, that is it. Was the first

fish goes into its tries go bag, for that animal, it is a race

against time to get it to the aquarium as quickly as possible.

After all the preparation, it is finally the day of the move. It is

five past five in the morning. The trucks are here, the clock has

started to tick. The Sharks are moving. OK, guys, the plan today,

we are starting at 5 o'clock and finishing at 9 o'clock. I hope that

it all goes well, and we should be sorted for 9 o'clock. The team is

split into two, with one half helping to pack 200 of the small

fish, and the others are moving the sting rays and the sharks. How's it

going, all right? It is going all right, I am getting very wet!

was lots of pressure. We don't want to be the ones who are letting the

side down. It is essential that everybody keeps to time, so that

the fish don't stay too long in the transport tanks. These are the ones

that sting, so be careful of where the strings are, so we are using

long handedness. Whilst the stingrays are easy to spot, some of

the smaller fish are proving more difficult to locate. Just looking

We have got every single one of these out without any issues.

these fish get scared, by us, they prepare and -- pretend to be dead,

and that is why they are lying in All the pants are closed up, this

charger happy, so that is us. fully loaded truck leaves at 9

o'clock bus stop in Windsor, Ian is making sure everything is ready for

the arrival of all of his new fish. We have done the final checks first

thing this morning so it is all just double-checking now. Aquariums

have their critics and in Windsor, the ride is in the town itself, and

to finish it, some of the sharks have been shipped from all over the

world, including the sharks and stingrays. Chris says that it has

been done sustainably and that the positives of the project outweigh

any negatives. I certainly wouldn't have in the animals having problems.

That is the opposite way that we want to go. Very few people get the

chance to see these wonderful creatures in the sea and underwater.

We're bringing back to the UK, so that children can experience that.

After three hours on the road, the convoy finally arrives at its

destination. We have got the trap here. Now it is the crucial time

when Chris finds out how Miss Fisher travelled. The sharks seemed

fine, but what about the stingrays? They are swimming around slowly,

but altogether, as a shoal. There we go. They're happy. The first

stingray is being taken to the new aquarium to see how it will react

to the water and to his new environment. We will try to send

them out into the main body of the tack so that he has lots of space

to swim around, and slowly orientate himself. Perfect. Woo!

Lovely. We are halfway through the unloading. Sting rays, sharks and

smaller fish have gone into the tank, and it is just making sure

they are happy in their new environment. After 10 long hours,

Chris and his team are about to finish. This is it, then, Chris.

will be excited see this one swimming off to his new home. I

have taken up nice and stable, but the animals are happy and looking

good in their room tank and that is what it is all about. Fantastic

result, stressful at times, but I am very happy now. The fact that

they are feeding, does that mean they're so good? Yes, because

sometimes they will not feed off their four days after transport so

that shows that they are settling in straight away. A perfect end for

you? Absolutely fantastic. All of the consignment of fish, sharks and

stingrays have survived the trip and seemed to be settling in. The