Last Monday night we saw our High Court Enforcement team on the ‘Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up’ Channel 5 tv show. In episode 5 there was some eye opening stories. If you missed last weeks episode, it can be found on Channel 5’s catch up programmes (My5), below is a synopsis of what happened on last week’s show in episode 5.
The next and last show of this series, of ‘Call the Bailiffs, Time To Pay Up’ is on tomorrow night, Monday 6th September 2021 at 9 pm, where you will see our Absolute Enforcement, high court enforcement team enforcing on High Court Writs of Control and getting the clients their money.
Interested in how we got involved in doing a TV show? Click here to find out.
Front Line Debt Recovery
In tonight’s episode we see how our agents are working from early until late to recover funds on behalf of our clients, and to locate debtors who are particularly difficult to find.
Mark and Virgil £8,035. Owed to a student letting agent.
In this case the Claimant who arrange Student Lets issued a claim in respect of unpaid rent. They instructed Shergroup to collect the debt. The judgment was entered on the 15th January 2021 in the County Court Money Claims Centre. Shergroup arranged to obtain the necessary certificate from the County Court for the debt to be transferred to the High Court for a Writ of Control to be issued. The Writ of Control was sealed on the 23rd March 2021 for an amount of £6,520,73 including costs of execution with interest accruing at 8% from the date of transfer. Enforcement Agents acting under the delegated authority of Claire Sandbrook made an attendance. The payment was not forthcoming a vehicle was seen at the property with the registered keeper as one of the debtors, it was therefore clamped. The vehicle was claimed to be owned by a Third Party however no evidence to support this claim could be provided therefore the vehicle was removed. Following the removal of the vehicle a Third Party Claim was made by a further party however the evidence provided indicated that the vehicle was in fact purchased by the debtor. Every effort was made to obtain a valid claim which was not forthcoming. In the circumstances an application was made by Shergroup to the High Court to obtain a directions order which would give clear dates to the Third Party of when the claim must be made by. Failure to comply would give directions of when the vehicle can be sold with no action against the HCEO. The Third Party did not comply with the directions and therefore it was placed in auction and sold.
Previous investigations by us provided the intelligence that the mother and son debtors own a valuable BMW and Mercedes. Strategising as they drove to the premises paid off and the BMW was clamped swiftly after arrival, but with no sight of the second vehicle.
At 8am our High Court Enforcement Agents knock on the front door and are told the mother and son were not home but were travelling to work with the husband/father. Virgil used his language skills to converse with the father in Romanian. The father claimed the BMW had been sold by his wife so it could not be removed but he could not go back to the house with evidence.
Very shortly afterwards, even before our team have had time to secure a sturdier clamp a Romanian woman arrives and alleges the car is hers. Despite questioning, the lady has no proof of ownership of the car or proof of any payment (which is still parked directly outside of the debtors house) and she calls the debtor named on the High Court Writ of Control.
The debtor maintains she has sold the car and cannot pay the debt, but then after a few minutes offers £200 immediately and another £500 soon – but this is simply not enough for a debt this size and our enforcement team explain this.
The husband / father then calls our agents and now states that he bought the car from his wife, so it can’t be towed. The husband / father fails to produce credible evidence he has purchased the vehicle from his wife, who arrives a few minutes later with proof of ownership of the vehicle – by the son (one of the debtors). The husband / father then tells our team that he won’t allow them to remove the car, and our agents quickly move to block the vehicle in and call the recovery vehicle to collect the car.
The tow truck arrives (increasing the debt) and takes the vehicle away. The agents vow to return the next day as the sale of the car at auction will no longer cover the amount owed.
KC and Alex, Flight compensation £2,900 owed to a passenger since 2019 by a major airline.
In this case the Company acting for the individual is in respect of monies owed for flight delay compensation claims. Shergroup were instructed to collect the debt. The judgment was entered in the 13th January 2021 in the County Court Money Claims Centre. Shergroup arranged to obtain the necessary certificate from the County Court for the debt to be transferred to the High Court for a Writ of Control to be issued. The Writ of Control was sealed on the 19th March 2021 for an amount of £1,897,75 including costs of execution with interest accruing at 8% from the date of transfer.
Enforcement Agents acting under the delegated authority of Claire Sandbrook collected the amount in full. The Company acting for the individual were delighted with the outcome and the continued updates received from Shergroup’s dedicated Business Solutions Advisor. This particular Claimant gave Shergroup a glowing testimonial during the airing of the show.
Headed to Heathrow to use their authority to stop check in and halt take off of an upcoming flight to NewYork until the debt is paid – seizing a £50m aircraft booked to take off on a long haul flight is a sure fire way of getting the airline’s immediate attention.
Enforcement Agent Alex explains the situation to the airline, and closed the check in desk at Heathrow just after it opened. The check in staff get the manager on the phone and Alex explains the situation again. The manager doubted our teams authority and refused to pay the debt on the phone but agreed to meet our team. She then called the police to check who we were and if we had the authority we were advising we did.
Evidence of the debt, our teams credentials and a copy of the High Court Writ are provided to the manager under the supervision of the airport police, who then made full payment of the debt – approx an hour after our team arrived. To the relief of the passengers the check in desk was reopened and the flight could continue.
Alex and Sherry – £6,246 owed to a financial services company.
In this case the Claimant who is a money transfer remittance company registered in the UK and an authorised payment institution monitored and regulated by the FCA and HMRC under its parent company. Through a network of third party businesses whom they hire as contractors/agents; i.e., the defendant completed the money transfer orders after the customers handed/paid the trust funds to the defendant and are then responsible to deposit the funds into Claimant’s bank account within the specified timeframe. The defendant has failed to deposit the customers’ funds and has therefore breached the signed agreement. Also as a result of the defendant’s avoidance to come up with a repayment option they had no alternative but to issue a claim.
The judgment was entered on the 10th December 2020 in the County Court Money Claims Centre. Shergroup arranged to obtain the necessary certificate from the County Court for the debt to be transferred to the High Court for a Writ of Control to be issued. The Writ of Control was sealed on the 23rd March 2021 for an amount of £4,931,91 including costs of execution with interest accruing at 8% from the date of transfer. Enforcement Agents acting under the delegated authority of Claire Sandbrook made an attendance. The Enforcement Agents entered into a payment arrangement which is being closely monitored. The Claimants dedicated Business Solutions Advisor is keeping the claimant updated. They are very satisfied with the Service Shergroup provide.
After tracking the debtor down for over three weeks our team arrive at the debtors residence and try to call. After three home visits to an empty house (this time at 6am in the hope to catch the debtor before they leave for work) they speak to the debtors brother in law who agrees to get the debtor to call our agents but asks if our agents can wait in the car as they are concerned about the neighbours seeing our agents and thinking badly of the debtor. Alex explains they will wait outside as this is their third visit now, and the team wait patiently for the debtor to arrive.
The debtor calls our team and expects more time which our team have to explain just is not possible and they remind the debtor he has already had ample time to resolve the debt – and three previous letters from us about the debt. Alex works with the debtor to allow extra time (a few hours) to help him to collect some money. Our agents leave the debtors house (to the relief of the debtors brother in law who remains concerned about the neighbours) to await payment.
The debtors brother in law paid 50% of the debt and set up a payment plan for the balance, so it was a successful day, albeit the debtor remained illusive.
KC and Alex, £5,927 owed by a car parts company
In this matter the Defendant entered into several contracts with the Claimant for the exclusive supply of telephony services. The Contracts were dated 14 and 15 September 2016 respectively and were for an initial period of 36 months with a 3 month written notice period required thereafter. The Defendant transferred telephony services during the initial period and without providing the required notice. The Claimant has therefore issued a fee for damages in lieu of breach of contract which despite numerous requests remains unpaid. The claim also includes money owing for services provided up to the date of transfer/cease. It was passed to Shergroup to collect the debt.
The judgment was entered on the 26th November 2020 in the County Court Money Claims Centre. Shergroup arranged to obtain the necessary certificate from the County Court for the debt to be transferred to the High Court for a Writ of Control to be issued. The Writ of Control was sealed on the 10th December 2020 for an amount of £4,590.39 including costs of execution with interest accruing at 8% from the date of transfer. Enforcement Agents acting under the delegated authority of Claire Sandbrook made an attendance and achieved payment in full. The Claimants are delighted with the outcome and are always impressed with the service provided by their dedicated Business Solutions Advisor.
The High Court Enforcement Team attended the business address of the debtor and explained the situation. The manager asserts that the debtor company has gone into liquidation, but Alex remains suspicious and explains how his investigations lead him to believe this is not correct and that he has evidence to the contrary. Exercising their right to investigate our team begin to examine papers inside the premises while the manager moves to the car park and verbally abuses the camera crew, swearing at them and making rude gestures.
Our agents locate paperwork and invoices in the name of the debtor and the man at the premises alleges the company was sold in 2019. KC continues her investigation and locates a large volume of paperwork dated only two weeks ago related to the debtor.
Despite mounting evidence the people at the property are trading in the name of the debtor, the manager remains adamant that this is not true. The manager asks to meet in the car park to discuss the debt and remains adamant he is not responsible and will get his solicitor involved – until Alex explains he has authority to close the premises. As soon as Alex threatens closure the manager offers 50% of the debt immediately but sadly Alex has to explain this isn’t enough. Eventually 2 hours after their arrival a much calmer manager paid the debt in full.
High Court Enforcement Agent Alex explained when a debtor pays a High Court Writ the money is held for 14 days before the money can be passed to the claimant. The debtor said he will be appealing the payment within that time, but 14 days later no appeal had been lodged so the claimant was paid in full.
Below is the link to the My5 Channel 5 catch up for episode 5, Call The Bailiffs – Time To Pay Up:
https://www.my5.tv/call-the-bailiffs-time-to-pay-up/season-1/episode-5
See us on the Channel 5 TV Show “Call The Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up” (Episode 6)
