See us on the Channel 5 TV Show “Call The Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up” (Episode 6)

Front Line Debt Recovery

The last episode of the High Court Enforcement TV show ‘Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up’ saw our team explaining why we need to maintain a professional and firm stance – for every debt we collect there is someone at the other end who is due, and entitled to, the money owed.

Mark and Virgil are on a case where a debtor owes £8,350 following a county court judgement for vet costs following the damage his dog caused when it attacked someone else’s dog. (With an exclusive not seen on tv follow up)

As if a 3am start wasn’t bad enough for High Court Enforcement Agents Virgil, Mark breaks his illusion that posh was a word introduced into English vocabulary after Posh Spice and then is faced with a dog behind the front door of the debtors house!

It is clear someone is home Enforcement Agent Virgil saw a lady letting the dogs out of a room when he looked through the letterbox) but they are refusing to answer the door, so Enforcement Agent Mark goes to the rear of the property.  Eventually the debtor answers the door and explains his side of what happened.

Virgil explains the situation and that he is not there to judge, he must collect the debt. The debtor advises he wants to dispute the original judgement but our agents explain they need to enforce the writ and collect payment or assets to the value of the debt.

Virgil explains the situation from their and the claimants side and suggests a payment plan, but the debtor explains he is a carpenter but isn’t currently working, and so he is unable to make any payments. Virgil offers time for the debtor to raise some funds and our team leave for a short period to allow the debtor time to call friends and family.

During the time they allow the debtor to make his calls Mark investigates a small van parked outside the debtors home, which he suspects belongs to the debtor.

Ten minutes after our team leave the debtor telephones our team and offers £200 a month until the debt is paid, so a payment plan is arranged.

EXCLUSIVE NOT SEEN ON TV, FOLLOW UP:  The debtor later breaks the arrangement so Absolute Enforcement had to send High Court Enforcement Agents back to the address. The agents enter the house and talk with the debtor.  They state that they will now have to remove goods due to the broken agreement. The debtor then pays in full, the High Court Writ is successfully closed and the claimant gets all their money owed. 

This case shows that the debtor was given the opportunity to work with the agents, but chose to go back on his word, giving the agent no option but to look at removing goods, at this time it showed that the debtor had the money to pay all the time.  One of the main tasks for High Court Enforcement Agents is to work out the ‘Can’t Payers’ and the ‘Wont Payers’, The Can’t Payers we will try to work with where we can, but the Wont Payers we will enforce to the full extent of the law.

Sherry and Alex make repeat visits to a debtor who owes £3,772 to a PPI recovery agent for an unpaid fee.

High Court Enforcement Agent (High Court Bailiff) Sherry noticed a “Freedom of the land” notice on the front door, which states the occupants only consent to laws they consent to.

High Court Agent Alex calls the debtor asking her to come to the door as she fails to answer their calls at the door. The debtor says she has agreed a payment plan with the court but refuses to show our team the evidence, and instead calls the police.

Our team wait patiently for the police to arrive. High Court Agent Sherry suggests the debtor may be more co-operative if she calls her, and following a call from Sherry she explains she can’t find the paperwork but will look for this.

The debtor calls Sherry back and agrees to bring the paperwork to the door – which she does – and evidences a payment plan is in place, allowing the team to move onto the next job.

Next we see High Court Enforcement Agents KC and Alex in South Wales perusing a total debt for £7,936 for two cases of unpaid legal fees following a trace for the debtor.  

A neighbour explains the debtor has moved and provides an address which matched the second trace address already identified by our Trace Team.  The neighbour also provides our agents with the debtors vehicle registration number.

On arriving at the second address they immediately see the car believed to belong to the debtor.  Enforcements Agents Alex and KC apply the clamp to the debtor car before Agent Alex knocks at the door, which is immediately answered by the debtor, enabling him to swiftly explain the situation.  
The debtor advises our team that they can’t make any payment today, and Mark explains to the debtor that his Range Rover has been seized, following which the debtor offers £500.  With two expensive range rovers parked on the debtors drive our team’s experience and instincts tell them there is more money that this debtor could offer.

The debtor arrives at the Range Rover a few minutes later to advise our agents that his son is in the process of making payment of the total debts owed, which is confirmed and the clamp can be removed before our agents leave and move onto the next case.

Mark and Virgil debtor who owes £17,696 to an insurance company

High Court Enforcement Agents (High Court Bailiffs) Mark and Virgil are in good form with Mark trying to explain Centre Parks to Virgil as a more upmarket Butlins but Virgil  is no wiser after the explanation as he hasn’t heard of Butlins either!   They continue their journey through the forest to find their next debtor who owes £17,696 to an insurance company for an unpaid insurance excess on a hire car.

Mark calls at the debtor’s house but he is not there, but the person at the property gets the debtor on the phone. The debtor explains he has applied for IVA debt help, which he expects this to be finalised by the end of the month. However as there is no IVA in place yet Mark explains our agents need to collect payment of the debt as the High Court Writ of Control remains in place.

The debtor advises he has no funds to pay at present and he is doing his best to get his application for IVA / debt assistance through as soon as possible.

Our team work with the debtor to arrange a payment plan, and agree £100 a month which will be put to the client who is owed the money, and who later accepts.

We hear next that two months later there has been a problem with the payment plan and no payments have been made.  Mark explains his texts to the debtor remain unanswered, and his voice messages go unanswered.  Our team decide to do some research using social media and then to pay the debtor another visit.

Social media research indicates the debtor may be living with his mother so the team decide to drive by both addresses in the hope they find his car which can then be seized to clear the debt.

Before our agents reach the debtor’s mother’s house the debtor picks up Mark’s call and advises his IVA / debt help has now gone through, which our team check and find to be correct before thanking the debtor, wishing him luck and moving onto their next case.

High Court Enforcement Agents Alex and Sherry £2,204 pursue a car dealership debtor for media advertising.  

On arrival they find the dealership closed and the cars covered in snow.  A passing gentleman advises the business is closed for the day, and they make good use of their time at the dealership by seeking out cars they can take control of if needed, High Court Enforcement Agent Alex calls and leaves a message for the debtor.  On departing our team leave their details with a neighbouring business and are about to leave when the debtor calls them.

The debtor is aware of the debt and offers to make a payment in full, which is confirmed by our office as received shortly afterwards.