A POPULAR BURNLEY pub featured on a Channel 5 show as bailiffs went on a hunt for a man who was in more than £12,000 debt.

On 'Call The Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up' last night (9 August), two enforcement agents were called out to The Royal Dyche pub on Yorkshire Street, Burnley.

The debt is NOT directly associated with the pub itself- but someone who was living above the pub at the time.

 

 

Enforcement officers KC and Alex were on the hunt for a man who has been pursued by the local council for over a year.

He owed £12,904 for failing to have the correct letting license on a property in the town while renting it out.

Lancashire Telegraph: The Royal Dyche The Royal Dyche (Image: NQ)

A woman on the show explained: “This is an unusual debt- it relates to an unpaid penalty. The debtor failed to obtain the correct license for a property he was letting out in the Burnley area.

“He’s been quite hard to track down- but we believe we may have found him.”

KC and Alex turned up at the pub, noting its obvious link to football.

KC stated: “Well they support their football team because their whole team is on the wall- nice murals.”

Alex added: “We’re 100 yards from Turf Moor- so this is a match day pub I reckon.

“They’ve even got a lager named after Sean Dyche.”

After gaining entry to the pub using their High Court warrant, the enforcement officers sought to discover if the debtor is in fact living in the pub- and if they need to seize his belongings to pay what is owed.

After speaking to the pub landlady on the phone, the bailiffs confirm that they are in the correct place.

The man they are looking for does live at the premises but only rents a room upstairs

On the phone KC speaks with the pub owner on the phone. KC says: “She says it’s her father- so he lives here and he works elsewhere.”

Lancashire Telegraph: Call The Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up (Photo: Channel 5)Call The Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up (Photo: Channel 5)

Eventually, the debtor turns up at the pub to confront the enforcement officers and offer his side of the story.

The man claimed he was in pub in an “impossible” situation and fined by the council “for not filling a form in.”

He explained: “The reason I couldn’t get out of it was because the council were paying his rent.

“I can’t throw him out… the council kept paying the rent for the tenant even though I didn’t have a license.”

The show’s voice over explained: “Although a court found him guilty and insisted a penalty be paid, the man insisted he was helpless.”

In the end, KC and Alex come to an arrangement with the debtor who agrees to pay £100 a month to begin with- and potentially appeal the fine in court.

This means the officers are able to walk away without having to seize any of his belongings.  

The officers explain: “We set him up in an arrangement- hopefully that will help him and in a couple of months we will review it.“

“How successful his appeal will be is anybody’s guess.”

KC goes onto explain that debt collectors understand what people are going though insisting that we all know what it is like to be in debt.

She explained: “The first thing we see at the door is humans. We’re not ogres we’re just here to make sure people who are owed money are paid that money.”

A spokesperson for The Royal Dyche pub said it would be unfair to comment on the matter as it is not their issue to discuss.

They added:"The person associated to the debt is not linked with the pub or the business."

You can catch up on last night’s episode of Call The Bailiffs: Time To Pay Up, over on My 5.