Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

198 replies

ToeKneeChestNut · 16/09/2017 20:43

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!

OP posts:
Ivymaud · 17/09/2017 10:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ivymaud · 17/09/2017 10:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Beerwench · 17/09/2017 10:28

Piglet - different jobs within the same industry. It's all there for the collection of, and enforcement if needed, of debt.

HCEO's indeed are different and have different powers to bailiffs. I've dealt with both.

When bailiffs firms fail, the next step is HCEO's - with more power granted by the courts.

My point is still valid, real life experience is very different to how it's being portrayed, and IMO that's to raise the perception of the whole industry, without putting the other side of the story. If you just read this thread you can see it's working.

Snap8TheCat · 17/09/2017 10:31

Well if you've never watched them how can you know exactly what happens in them? Confused

Ivymaud · 17/09/2017 10:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ivymaud · 17/09/2017 10:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Snap8TheCat · 17/09/2017 10:41

Very well Hmm

Oldie2017 · 17/09/2017 10:47

As most people know these are not ordinary bailiffs. They are high court enforcement officers. Plenty of those on the programme by the way have been posh over the various series - it is not portraying the underclass by any means. There have been rich Jewish jewllery shop owners I remember. There have been young families needing to pay their mortgage with tenants just choosing not to. I think they are very balanced in the cases they pick.

Yes like most good TV there will be editing and they do make it clear they have visited a few times before in some cases (and obviously do not film dull visits where no one answers the door). I gives people a good idea of how high court enforcement works. It is also on the whole kind to those who are in real need (although in my view is far too nice to people who turn on the waterworks to gain sympathy).

LEMtheoriginal · 17/09/2017 11:00

I don't watch reality programs - unless you count bake off. Bake off is very good.

The issue I think with reality TV is that often it isn't. A friend of a friend was on how clean is your house. When the tv folk turned up they said it wasn't dirty enough and brought more rubbish!

SuburbanRhonda · 17/09/2017 12:41

And if the stories really move you, what are you doing about it in real life apart from gawping at the telly?

What makes you think people who watch this programme don't do anything about it in real life apart? The two aren't mutually exclusive.

I'm actually more puzzled by posters condemning the programme without ever having seen it. They're people who could
definitely do something more useful with their time.

SuburbanRhonda · 17/09/2017 12:42

Bake off is very good.

Competitive cake-making? Leave it out Smile

Ivymaud · 17/09/2017 12:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Theresnonamesleft · 17/09/2017 13:33

I have watched it twice.
Horrible program. Coincidentally both times featured people being evicted who weren't in debt.
First one a family who had been taken to court and they had lodged an appeal in the meantime to stop the eviction. Put the owner took it straight to the high court.

The second was several properties owned by the same person. None had debts. The owner had gone and won reposession. They tenants thought they had until x and were in tears when the high court ones showed up weeks early.

The fab sir Paul rushed them to get out within the hour. Yet on the same show a single male he let take his time.
He helps the single people remove goods, the one with the kids didn't life a finger.

Yea such a nice bloke

Papafran · 17/09/2017 14:27

Did some research on them. The company they work for (DCBL) is dodgy as fuck, one of the previous 'stars' is a former bankrupt, one has a conviction for drugs and a third (as mentioned upthread) for extreme pornography involving animals. There are also anecdotes from members of the public on forums about people from DCBL acting like total thugs and threatening them in front of their children.

Do not believe what you are shown on an edited TV show. I am sure St Paul may be made to look utterly fantastic but I doubt he acts like that with all his clients. And they do not just do high court work- as I mentioned upthread, they even allowed someone to wear the high court enforcement uniform despite him not being a high court officer. Corrupt as hell.

Papafran · 17/09/2017 14:29

From www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?438371-A-case-from-quot-Can-t-pay-we-ll-take-it-away-quot

Hello my name is Matthew Wright - in Slough and I was featured on this programme

On the 3rd of June there was a loud banging on the front door
and upon opening it I was confronted by what appeared to be a police officer
but who I later discovered to be Paul Bohill with a Channel 5 Film Crew.

Paul Bohill told me he had a warrant from the High Court to enter the home
and collect items to settle for an on going claim made against me by a former contractor to my small business.

Paul Bohil then put his foot in the door and using his body weight pushing his way into the house against my will,
even after I asked him to remove his foot.

He then tried to goad me on by saying "hit me go on hit me", which was a very tempting proposition at the time.

I was not given the opportunity to check the so called "High Court Warrant "or validate his identity before he used force to enter the property.
Dressing as a Police Officer is false impersonation and misrepresentation of powers.

I also noticed in the programme that he went on to say "Mr Wright owes this money" like he is the judge and jury,
but Paul Bohill knows nothing of the facts of the case and is simply deluded from TV publicity.

A complaint is going to be made to the HCEOA and made public so your advice would be appreciated.

Oldie2017 · 17/09/2017 14:32

Without high court enforcement officers people who win court actions would not be able to enforce those. I spend my life helping people who are forced to use the courts to get justice. A "win" of a court judgment of money is not win at all unless you can actually get the cold hard cash the fraudster or defendant has stolen from you. Are people who are against high court enforcement thinking there should be no ability to recover money owed because I can tell you now that every month my clients ask for money from someone and they just ignore the demand or invent a defence or don't turn up at court and then think they can just stick their fingers in their ears and think their legal obligations will disappear - well know they won't thanks to enforcement agents. They ensure stability in society and that we are all protected from those who think they can ignore their debts and duties. I've a client been waiting 2 months now for money it is owed

Papafran · 17/09/2017 14:33

Additionally, Paul Bohill is not an authorised HCEO and does not appear on the register. He works for someone who is but he himself is just an ordinary bailiff.

www.hceoa.org.uk/members/authorised-members-directory/list

BakedBeans47 · 17/09/2017 14:33

I have watched it before but this thread has made me view it through different eyes so thank you. Pretty grubby and sordid much of it really x

PoppyPopcorn · 17/09/2017 14:34

There are also anecdotes from members of the public on forums about people from DCBL acting like total thugs and threatening them in front of their children.

Of course there are. Because nobody is ever going to go on a forum to post that of course they owed the money, ignored letters, let things get to the stage of a High Court writ. People treated with courtesy by companies and officials have no axes to grind. People who feel they have been poorly treated or that the initial debt was unfair do.

Taking as gospel everything you read on a forum is very naive. Most of the excerpts you have posted are just ridiculous - they aren't impersonating police officers. They have the right to hold doors opened. And of course they're operating "against people's will" as the people in question have made it clear they have no intention of paying what the Court says they owe!

BakedBeans47 · 17/09/2017 14:38

I totally understand the need for enforcement and also find many people on the show hugely frustrating. But it is a bit grubby as entertainment I have come to realise and also I hadn't really thought about how they must get people to agree to go on it

Papafran · 17/09/2017 14:38

Taking as gospel everything you read on a forum is very naive

Whereas wanting some random bailiff who acts nice on TV to be knighted and to be your dad isn't.... I am not saying it is necessarily all true, but from what people with experience of dealing with bailiffs have said on here, they are anything but sympathetic. I take the point that debts need to be collected and my issue is not with the existence of bailiffs. I do have a problem with people glorifying some dude who is just the same as the rest of them by saying he is the best thing since sliced bread for chucking mums out on the street and giving them false information about their rights to housing.

Oldie2017 · 17/09/2017 14:39

Peoople don't like to pay their debts. In the 1930s my poor widowed grandmother with a small 4 year old had to go out and try to collect debts for someone even then and the owners used to hide and pretend they weren't in. It's always been the way. No one likes the baillifs.

Presumably everyone on the thread thinks there needs to be some means to recover money that is due and evict people who don't pay rent?

Gran22 · 17/09/2017 14:39

I've noticed on many threads how polarised people can be, but life isn't so neat. I've watched the programme, and I think more people should, as it gives pointers to what people should do if they have debt, or their landlord wants to evict. It also acts as a warning to well meaning people who try and help others by renting their homes out.

People deny they know anything about the problem, when they'd had myriad opportunities to talk to their lender/landlord/council, or go to court at the first summons and explain their situation. The programme explains quite plainly how the high court process works.

The system can be unkind and unfair to some, but there are also a lot of people who are users. One woman had rented out her flat when she was working away. She gave the appropriate notice when she knew she needed to move back to her flat. Her tenant wasn't consistent with her rent, and wouldn't discuss leaving. The owner then had to get a notice served (that cost money and took time) the tenant ignored it. The owner then had to arrange for a bailiff, costly, and a locksmith, more expense to evict the woman. It's unlikely she'll recover any of the debt.

I listened to a woman from a CAB on the radio recently. They try and help people resolve debt, she was very non judgemental but honest. She said it can appear a client is having difficulty with council tax and rent payments, but when they examine the reasons it may be because they have upgraded their phone more than once, accruing debts every time. Just one example, but If they sorted out priorities, their home wouldnt be under threat. We shouldn't think that everyone who hasn't paid couldn't pay!

Snap8TheCat · 17/09/2017 14:39

Papafran- did you watch that episode?

Papafran · 17/09/2017 14:41

Papafran- did you watch that episode?

No. I don't watch the show. I am sure you will tell me that the exact opposite happened though.