People who repossess homes and cars for a living may not expect to be popular with debtors but an Ashford sheriff has revealed the opposite is often true.

Paul Bohill, whose official job title is High Court enforcement officer, is currently starring alongside colleague Steve Pinner in Channel 5’s Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away!

The four-part series follows the self-employed pair, of High Court Solutions, as they travel around the country seizing houses, cars and even animals from people in financial difficulty.

But despite wearing protective vests to every job, Paul says they are often welcomed and given gifts. They can even offer financial advice.

Married Paul, who has been a sheriff for 30 years, said: “We don’t make many enemies, we actually make more friends. A lot of people shake our hands on the way out because we’ve helped them.

“I evicted 25 Romanians from a house and they gave us a bottle of wine because we were so kind.

"We don’t make many enemies, we actually make more friends. A lot of people shake our hands on the way out," - sheriff Paul Bohill

“We see all sides of it. We’re there with people when they’re in just about the worst place they can hope to be but if they listen to our advice we can help them.

“Our sheriffs’ officer asked us to take part in the programme so we could make people aware the High Court system exists and explain how it works.

“There was no acting, we were just us, warts and all.

“There were no prepared speeches. We did have to do some retakes but that was when we’d picked a lock too quickly or something and they’d missed it.”

It’s not only household objects Paul and his colleagues are instructed to take.

Paul said: “We do take animals that are commercial assets, but not pets.

“Once we were told to repossess three St Bernard dogs that weighed 17 stone each and another time we were supposed to pick up 21 huskies in a transit van. Fortunately, we didn’t need to do either.

“We call specialist contractors to move animals. I once called experts to a 2.5 acre fishing lake in Essex and they netted £100,000 worth of carp.”

Previously, Paul has been in the police force and worked with a charity offering financial advice to older people.

His brush with fame has not put him off appearing on television and he has been invited to take part in a live debate about debt on Channel 4 taking place later this month.