to think that Paul Bowhill (bailiff) should be Knighted!

[ToeKneeChestNut]

Paul Bowhill of Can't Pay We'll Take it Away fame is so kind!
He always goes out of his way to help the evictees; giving his own number, making arrangements for them.
He doesn't just evict and go. He should be Sir Paul!

Think there's confusion though - mostly from people who've never seen the programme and are horrified by people who'd lower themselves to watch it.

The officers featured aren't bailiffs. They're high court officers. Sheriff officers they used to be called. Only the High Court can send out enforcement officers on a debt, after a CCJ has been issued and not paid. So it's never a case of Ms Jones who is 2 weeks behind on her catalogue payments. It's always much bigger debts which have gone way past the bailiffs and threatening letters.

Similarly with evicitions - it's always something which has been through several stages at court and yes, quite often the tenant is awkward and refuses to go not because they have nowhere to go, but because they are playing the system. And the system is appalling from the landlord's point of view - councils are saying to tenants that they won't help until they're formally evicted, so landlords have no alternative but to go to court and get the enforcement officers in. And yes, Paul cuts through the drama and the crap and always impresses on people how important it is that they take the essentials and get down to the Council to see what they can do.

It's really not OK to have something without paying for it.

I'm not middle class, refuse to watch Jeremy Kyle or read the daily mail /sun et al. I still like watching can't pay though, the weirdo I am!

Yes of course people have to pay. And people have to enforce this. But to gawp at people's misfortune. Edited for more entertainment value then I'm sorry but I think it's pretty grubby.

You can tell the people on this thread that have had bailiffs round! These are high court bailiffs so they deal with people that have had their day in court, lost and had a CCJ against them and have failed to pay. There are people that cannot pay but the majority on this programme can but choose not to. High court bailiffs also do not work on commission as they mention several times on this programme. Just to clarify as these are not just people that can't pay their council tax for example.

Televised humiliation of the underclass

This

Algenon, bring the gin through its time to watch the peasants being evicted, it's ok yah because the bailiff is naice

It's really not OK to have something without paying for it

But perfectly acceptable to gawp, gurn grand guffaw at them as entertainment.

I love Paul. I think he does a hard job and he does it professionally and has a good knack of being able to tell the piss-takers (the ones with £££s in the back that are just shirking debts) from people in genuine need.

At the end of the day, he is a high court enforcement officer enforcing court ordered writs. People may not like the job he does, but someone has to do it, or else everyone could just get away with never bothering to pay for anything, and the economy would soon start to suffer. And as much as I feel sorry for the debtors, it's worth remembering that at the end of each claim is someone who is owed hundreds or thousands of pounds, and that they may also have incurred serious financial hardship through non-payment.

These are high court bailiffs so they deal with people that have had their day in court, lost and had a CCJ against them and have failed to pay. There are people that cannot pay but the majority on this programme can but choose not to. High court bailiffs also do not work on commission as they mention several times on this programme. Just to clarify as these are not just people that can't pay their council tax for example

Firstly, there was a scandal because one of the officers who was wearing a HCEO vest was not in fact an official officer (the one with the animal porn conviction). Secondly, so? If you don't pay your rent/council tax, you DO get a CCJ against you. If you can't pay because you don't have the money, having your day in court is not going to make any odds because the court will find against you. As I have said before, I realise that this job has to be done, (but I do think it attracts a certain type of person). My issue is with people who think it's funny to watch a programme that exploits vulnerable people (even if not all of them are vulnerable and some of them have a Mercedes).

There's quite a difference between the Kray twins and professional bailiffs formally appointed by the court (reference upthread).

I've seen Can't Pay... a few times. My parents watch it regularly.

Some posters seem to be arguing against the existence of bailiffs or enforcement agents in any form. What would their proposal be for enforcing court judgments, in that case? Or should we render the courts toothless, because anybody could ignore a judgment if it were free of consequences?

I sometimes watch this and I agree that Paul always tries to be fair. Before it gets to the high court those owed have exhausted all other possibilities - so what else can they do other than call in the Enforcement Officers?

What I dislike very much is when some of the EOs (not Paul) realise the debtor can't pay up but persuade them to get a family member to do so, when in actuality if the debtor held out the debt would have to be written off.

"Is there someone you could phone for help?" The answer should always be a firm no.

I've seen it. I sometimes sit and hiss at the bailiffs 'You can't do that!' yet somehow they're getting away with it on National TV. It makes me angry.

We lost our mortgaged home due to our 30 year old business collapsing in 2007. We print, and of course in this modern era people do a lot of their own. We downsized and downsized and eventually 2 of our biggest customers crashed and collapsed leaving us high and dry owed £1000s

5 kids and no home. We threw ourselves at the council who were amazing. They put us in a nice hotel close to 'home'. We were lucky and I'm very aware of it. We picked up the pieces, started our business back up, very small from my FILs garage and managed to get a private rental.

We'd been there 3 days when the bailiffs appeared for non payment of council tax for those 3 months. They're like bulldogs. Taunting my kids, trying to add extra fees, walking around my house trying all the doors. Phoning my inlaws to try to get them to pay!

I educated myself fast on what they could do. It turns out they'd broken so many rules and regs that the council took the debt back, I paid it off and the bailiffs got fined.

I have no issue with bailiffs (if they aren't bullying thugs -some are although court enforcement officers tend to be respectful end will help you find a solution).

I have issue with people who enjoy this sort of mindless entertainment at the expense of others.

Thankfully we are the other side of our debt nightmare but it took it's toll on my and my Dp's mental health.

These programs are vile. Surely people can find better entertainment - read a book FFS. Play candy crush.

I don't understand why this kind of programme is entertainment. I saw ten minutes of it at a relatives house and had it turned off. A woman desperately scrabbling around family members to try and find a huge sum of money. How is this entertainment? It's sad and exploitative.

No better than sitting in the relatives' room filming the doctor breaking news a loved one has died.

And I expect the viewers have more money than the people cast in the show. That makes it poverty porn.

TV doesn't have to just be entertainment, no one has said the programme is entertaining. Informative and interesting are adjectives I'd use. I don't watch it often but I do find it interesting and rather educational.

I'd rather watch Can't Pay than a load of Z list celebs prancing around.

We love Paul too.
Off subject slightly but has anyone else noticed that Stewart mcCrakens favourite word is "seized" ?!! 😂

I know someone who was on this show. They genuinely were destitute, and Paul genuinely did help.

However, because I know the circumstances, I know that how it was presented on the show was not an accurate representation of what happened.

I can't actually give any details, though.

Rachie -im sorry that happened to you. I am not surprised by your story at all. First bailiff I dealt with was actually really nice. Declined my offer to come in (I was but later learnt that once they have access to your property they have the right to return and remove goods). We came to a payment agreement that I felt we could afford and left us with the instruction to call should we not be able to pay . We had to do that a few times and they were fine about it. So long as we paid the following month. Then the council sold the debt (which was nearly paid) to a different company and they were the polar opposite. Demeaning full payment . Intimidating. By this time I too was up to speed with our rights and I stood up to them. The council took back the debt and refunded costs because of how we were treated.

This is not entertainment Its people's lives.

Oh but just to fred people's prejudice - we had a Mercedes the nice bailiff said they wouldn't take it as it was so old and wouldn't be worth anymore than scrap value. Still got it ten years later though and it's by far the most cost effective thing we've ever owned. It's almost a classic old banger

We love it! The genuine cases are sad but it's very satisfying to see the "won't payers" get their comeuppance.

Declined my offer to come in (I was hmm but later learnt that once they have access to your property they have the right to return and remove goods).

You are talking about different jobs.

Debt collection bailiffs aren't High Court Enforcement Officers. It is these that are in the show

LEMTheOrigiinal
I've watched a few of these shows and find them fascinating. I'm slightly obsessed with consumer shows and websites such as MoneyBox and MoneySavingExpert.Com and this show helps show the reality of what happens when things go wrong. I'm certainly not 'entertained' by them in the way you are suggesting people are. That would obviously be wrong. The show comes across as factual and I don't feel it's hammed up. I've never been in debt (lucky me!) and shows like this do help you think about things. You are assuming everyone who watches it is thick and delighting in other people's misfortune which is unfair and wrong.

Don't you watch other fly-on-the-wall documentaries. I do, I watch lots of medical, police and customs ones. I find them interesting. I agree that there were some that were awful. I watched one about getting a council house which showed an woman declining a brand new council flat in central London because it didn't have a car parking space. The woman was everything that the Daily Mail would have wanted her to be. - I felt she had been chosen for the show for the wrong reasons and that the show was designed to be 'shocking'. I wouldn't watch that show.

'Those who have had the bailiffs round' are putting across their experiences with the industry, which appears to differ greatly with the impression the show is giving - admittedly I've got that from reading the posts on here of those that do watch it.

I haven't watched it, I don't want to watch people being humiliated, whether that be for entertainment, information or interest.

I totally agree that debts need to be paid, and in cases where the debts remain unpaid, then enforcement needs to happen and someone needs to do that job. What posters like me are saying is that it's not how it's being portrayed on the show, in real life, and from my experience (and many others having turned to forums for help and read their stories too) how it is on the TV just isn't how it happens every day.

I'm going to watch an episode, for balance. But I do strongly suspect that when the companies and officers involved have done this programme to try and counteract the reputation bailiffs have for being unscrupulous and bullies. Because it's one of those situations where unless you've had a dealing with them yourself, it's highly unlikely that you will know anything about the industry. You then watch this programme and form an opinion on debt and the collection and enforcement of that debt based on the programme.

Those who have had the bailiffs round' are putting across their experiences with the industry, which appears to differ greatly with the impression the show is giving

Its a different industry as has been said a few times.

Not really my cup of tea. Most of this stuff is probably on Channel 5, or similar, anyway I'm guessing. It's crap TV at best quite honestly.

Don't watch it then! No one is forcing you to.