In Episode 3 – Agent Chris kicks off the show by asking – if you were owed the money how would you get your money back? This is a key question which people who don’t like bailiffs need to answer. If it was your £10,000, how would you like it if you had no one to help compel payment?
It’s Cheesy! Enforcement at a Pizza Restaurant | Agents Mark and Virgil attend at a pizza restaurant – and while the employer is making the pizza, Virgil is on the phone with the owner. The man claims the company that owes the money is no longer trading. Mark is going through voluminous correspondence on the counter in the premises.
As you can see, we don’t just stop talking to people. We look for evidence to confirm that the legal person named on the Writ is trading from the address. You can see Virgil getting suspicious about the name of the person he is speaking to.
People do play games with the Agents when it comes to making payments. And then Virgil finds a letter from our office – which the person on the phone has denied receiving. This is again something we hear time and time again. When Mark says – the only reason I’m here is that you haven’t paid your cheese bill – that’s the reality check that people need.
The Agents also find all the court paperwork in the pizza restaurant. From this, it’s clear that the person knows all about the debt. Mustafa comes to the restaurant, and they show him the correspondence relating to the debt. Mustafa says that the person writing to him is a “scammer”.
Mark and Virgil send all the paperwork to our office for us to review and for the creditor’s instructions to be given. They wait for Claire Sandbrook and her team to make the call on whether the enforcement can go ahead. With confirmation that they can continue, the enforcement agents escalate the Writ to what we call the Sale & Disposal stage. The debtor maintains as a matter of principle that he won’t pay. His friend arrives then tries to argue Mustafa’s case, but Agent Mark isn’t interested in the waffle! Ultimately the Agents will follow through on the command in the Writ to remove the goods unless payment is forthcoming.
After 4 hours Mark and Virgil are still at the pizza restaurant. This can be quite normal as the process of negotiation and breaking down the debtor’s arguments can take a long time. The locksmith arrives and the Agents give Mustafa one last chance to pay. This will avoid the restaurant being locked up. In the background, the daylight hours have changed to the early evening. The friend negotiates to pay the amount due under the Writ and his friend says he will make an appeal to the Court to set the judgment aside.
A Family Affair | Payment arrangements are all part of what we do and so Agents KC and Alex have to visit a mother and wife in Southampton who has defaulted on their plan. This is never a good thing to do with High Court Enforcement Agents because we monitor payments, and we will be back if money doesn’t arrive in our bank account. You can see the mother getting upset – and KC tries to help the people – as the mum’s car is clamped. Two payments of £200 on a debt of £5,500+ are not going to stop enforcement. Agent Alex reminds the people that they must stay in contact with the Agents – particularly if they don’t have any money. The Agents have to look at every possible option and you can see KC and Alex working to get an agreement to get the payment plan back on track. Negotiations are carried out while the car is clamped but both KC and Alex do their best to try and be fair.
Posh Porsche! The next story involving Agents KC and Alex are on their way to see a lawyer who pays £19,000. Agent KC sees the man in the upstairs window and encourages him to come down to the front door to talk to her. She is talking through the letterbox to start with. The man says he can’t open the door, so the enforcement agents go looking for a Porsche. They find the car in the next street. A car can be secured on a public highway under the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 and that is exactly what the Agents do.
Alex lets the debtor know that the Porsche Cayenne has been immobilised. A neighbour also confirms that the car belongs to the debtor. Again, we will talk to neighbours to confirm certain information when the need arises.
When the car is clamped, the debtor comes out. Alex says to him, “Let’s have a chat”. Agent KC asks the man to confirm his identity who initially is reluctant to engage with the enforcement agents. He says that he has taken legal advice from a barrister who has told him not to talk to the Agents.
This is terrible advice! Apparently, an application to set aside the judgment has been made, so Alex calls into the office to check this out. But the dialogue continues as Alex looks into this side of the case. But he finds that the stay of execution has been lifted so there is no obstacle to removing the vehicle. Alex offers the debtor “a 10% deal” which the debtor agrees to, and the clamp is removed. The debtor goes on to say the Agents are “alright” which actually is a bonus for us! As you can tell enforcement can be a pretty thankless job so if a debtor says we’re alright we take that as a compliment!
Airline Antics | Agent Chris and Agent Gavin are attending the address of an airline and as no one is in they call a locksmith to force entry to the business premises. Enforcement Agents can do this – but they can’t do this at private houses. Gavin finds the numbers for the staff for the Turkmenistan airline and calls one person who turns up at the office. She gives Chris the number of a senior person for the airline. The member of staff also finds the keys to another office and the Agents eventually push the door to reveal another office space.
You can hear Agent Chris call out to warn he is on the premises with a High Court Writ. The company has failed to pay judgments of over £4,000 owed to their customers for flight compensation claims.
As they break into areas of the property that have been locked it looks as if someone is living in the office. Chris explains he is worried about the safety of the person upstairs. Gavin finds the sink is wet and food in the fridge. But Chris establishes that there is no actual tenant. This is important because we cannot evict a residential tenant without the right form of Court Order. Finally, Chris gets a call from a representative of the airline to say he is going to pay the debt. Chris still takes the decision to secure goods on-site and change the locks pending payment. A Warning Notice is left on the door confirming that goods inside the office are under Shergroup’s control pending payment. Payment in full is received a few days later.
Summing Up
In all the above cases you can see how the High Court enforcement process achieves positive outcomes for people who entrust their judgments with Shergroup’s process.
Every objection is managed and overcome to the point where we achieve a positive result. You can see the care and attention that Agents take to get to that point. Things are not rushed; people are given time to air their grievances, and did you notice all the Agents were wearing body-worn camera videos to capture events by way of evidence as to what is said?
Cameras help to control the behaviour of both the Agents and members of the public. People we meet can be upset and aggressive. The Agents must maintain control and wearing a camera helps the Agent to maintain a professional presence.
Sometimes we have to put that camera footage before the Court which we will do so if the judge asks for it. It’s very easy to say that the bailiff said the wrong thing or was too harsh in his or her decision making.
What we can say about the Agents in this show is that they are firm but fair and that is why we think we’re the best in the business at getting CCJ’s enforced.
So, if you have an unpaid CCJ that you need to enforce then we have plenty of ways to help you get going.
You can use online channels to transfer it to us and speak to our friendly experts about your situation. We are here to help you get your situation resolved.
And we have plenty of ways you can contact us!
By Phone | 0845 890 9200
Website | www.shergroup.com and you can chat to us from here
Email | [email protected]
Facebook | Check out Shergroup on this channel and message us
Twitter | Check out ShergroupChat on this channel and message us
LINKEDIN | Check out Shergroup’s LINKEDIN feed – and please FOLLOW us!
Instagram | Check out ShergroupChatter and follow us!
