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| The trailer with waterfed pole system that caused 2 window cleaners to go to courtroom TV. |
Jeff Brown was happy to recount the whole courtroom TV drama for your reading pleasure in his own words...
I had my window cleaning business for around 15 years with a client base of around 300 at its height. I employed my wife and 3 daughters and a couple of others on a part time basis, we eventually changed over to waterfed in the last 5 years and it was the best business decision I ever made.
My wife Lynne was diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis one of the worst of the MS’s you can get, things gradually got worse as the years past and I handed the bulk of the business to my eldest girl. She wasn’t keen on the idea of pulling my trailer system so we purchase a van and kitted it out with a new system. I still kept hold of my trailer and trolley system because I kept around 50 of the original customers for a bit of pocket money and to try and keep myself sane. My youngest would come and look after my wife a couple of days a week while I had a break from caring for my wife.
There came a time when my youngest couldn’t keep up giving me a break as she had 3 young girls of her own to look after, it was time for me to sadly give up my business completely and believe me, it was a sad moment on my very last day.. I needed to stay at home to look after my wife. Around 12-18 months later I decided to sell my trailer system as it was Just sat at the side of my house doing nothing and I decided I would use the money to take my wife on a holiday to Devon or somewhere else along the east coast.
I was sat in my conservatory one day and my neighbours son Darren, who you see on the Judge Rinder show was one of those loveable rouges like Arthur Daily. I’d helped him out in the past and he never let me down. He has a partner and 4 children and one of them being disabled, he asked me about the trailer system and we chatted and I decided to sell it to him for £1,500 and draw up a payment plan and contract listing the full system including the trailer. For those that have seen the show you could see why my trailer was worth a bit of money. Even though I built it myself from an old caravan chassis, I needed something with brakes on to stop quickly with all the weight of water.
I’d be carrying 250ltr tank, 100mtr hose, pump and controller along with a 25’ hybrid pole. I wanted payment of £50 and with a hamlet of customers I gave him, you could make £110 in 2.5hrs as once parked up you could do all but 2 of the houses without moving the van. He had more work passed to him by his father who is still a window cleaner today.
The first couple of weeks passed and I got my payment from him that I would mark in the book then he disappeared from the face of the earth! I popped around his house on a few occasions much like on collection night for a window cleaner in the UK. I had the curtain twitching, over the next 12 months & I managed to get a total of £250 from him. I was promised money more times than I care to remember that he would come around on a Friday to pay me & he never showed. I was very patient for far too long but apart from taking him to court it looked like I was going to lose £1,250 and I was almost about to write it off until....
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| Jeff in his heyday running his waterfed trailer system. |
Sat at home one afternoon and a new TV program came on, it was the English version of Judge Judy. I sat and watched it to see what it was like and the Judge is a bit camp and comes out with some very funny remarks. Over the next few weeks I watched the program and I was sent a link on Facebook by my Youngest daughter. I liked the page and on one of the postings by the Judge (really the crew not the Judge as he can’t stand Facebook in real life) I commented by saying is the ruling made by the Judge legally binding? Or is it Just a ploy set up by actors and actors? If it’s legally binding then I may have a case for you, if it’s not then I won’t waste your time.
I never received a reply back from them and a few weeks passed. I logged onto Facebook one evening to find a private message from the Judge Rinder crew asking me for my phone number so they could call me back and chat about my case. At first I was a little apprehensive and dogged the request for my phone number but eventually I gave in & messaged them my number. Within minutes I was chatting to one of the producers of the show and she said I had a strong case.. hold your horses I haven’t agreed yet! She then went on to tell me that the Judge Rinder show like most shows are sponsored and the Judge Rinder show had sponsors coming out of it’s ears and if you win your case then the sponsors pay anything awarded. Now my ears pricked up because that means the full amount all at once.
Over the next 2 hrs I was contacted by the main Producer, and the travel department and the first producer. I must have been on the phone to different departments for around 2hrs. The final call came in around 11pm... Yes 11pm on that evening asking when I could come on the show? They said they had a spare slot for Tuesday, that was 2 days away. I was asked if I thought the other guy Darren would appear on the show? I told them if someone was paying his bill then I’m sure he would. I shot around his house the next day and surprised him as he was working under his car, his face was a picture, like I caught him red handed and he couldn't run this time. I explained to him over a cuppa about the show and they would pay all expenses for him, his partner and all his children to get to and from his home. He chose to travel by Taxi and the fare there and back was just over £1,000. I chose to travel with my wife who they promised to look after and we travelled by train and the cost by train was around £400. We arrived in Manchester and was met at the station by a pre-booked Taxi that took us to our hotel and we were treated like royalty with all food paid for by the TV company (ITV).
Around evening lunch time the wife and I popped down for our meal, I had a nice steak, now come on who wouldn’t pick a nice steak that was free? During my meal I received a text message from the guy I was taking to court, he wasn’t happy with his family promised room, he was given 2 separate rooms which meant his family would be split. I gave him the contact number of the producer and told him to be up front and honest with her and I heard nothing back until around 1 hour later. He sounded really happy and told me that they had sent a taxi around immediately and took them all off to another hotel that gave him a apartment. I later saw the photographs he took when he posted them on Facebook... I kid you not, the apartment was £400 per night. My hotel was around the £150 mark so still not cheap and we were happy.
The following morning around 8am we were picked up by Taxi and driven to the Studio in Manchester and the first thing my wife saw was the Coronation street set (Groan). We were greeted by security who scanned us and removed all our belongings, ie mobile phones including the wife’s handbag, our luggage, as we’d checked out of the hotel. We didn’t have to wait as one of the producers was there to greet us along with our own personnel runner for anything that we wanted. My wife likes a smoke and she was about to kick off because they removed her cigarettes but they said, don’t worry, your personnel runner will supply you with as many as you want. I'd never seen my wife smoke so much! We were shown to our dressing room where we were introduced to a young lady who sat with us telling us what would be happening while we waited, we filled in a bank transfer form with my bank details so they could pay the money if I won my case.
Next, a lady walked in who was in charge of making sure you were dressed properly for TV, she walked in and saw I was in my suit and she thanked me as she had nothing to do. 10 minutes later another woman walked in with security and asked me to follow them and in we went to the make-up dept, they slapped a bit of stuff on my baldy head to stop it blinding the camera’s no doubt and a bit more on my nose, everyone I met there were so kind and helpful and made our visit something to remember. I’m Ex Military and it was November 11 and I looked at my lapel and my poppy had gone, I asked my runner if I could have a poppy and off he ran to get me one. Next thing I knew the lady in charge of dressing came in and apologised but I won’t be able to wear one as the show is going out in January, I wasn’t pleased but I did understand.
My case was to be the first one heard and the court would start at 11am! Not 11am please I said, that’s when we have our 2 minutes silence in remembrance of the war (poppy day). I was assured that the Judge would respect my wishes and at one minute to 11am the court room doors opened and I could see the audience in their seats and the Judge already in his seat, he announced that at 11am we would be having a 2 minutes silence as he looked down the court room to me, I was extremely grateful.
The 2 minutes silence ended and I was ushered into court and took my place by the mark on the desk that I was shown on a dummy run half hour earlier. My head didn’t move much but in my Peripheral vision I could see the producer frantically trying to get my attention, I looked over towards him and I thought he wanted to play charades but what he was trying to say was open your evidence folder. I never was any good at charades! My old mate walked in full of tattoos dressed to kill.. more like road kill I would say. The Judge walked in and took his place and opened the court session. I won’t tell all as I can’t remember a lot.. well it is now February and this took place last November but catch the show and see for yourself.
The Judge was shown pictures of my trailer and he was very impressed with the build quality..lol. He asked if I had built it myself and I answered - yes (all this was in the evidence he had in front of him). He told me I could be the next 'James Dyson'... lol.. I wish I had his money! I went through my story and he then started on Darren - first comment was his tattoo’s. He then mentioned as you can see in the clip about the original name of the company 'Reflections' and asked if he changed the name and what to? - 'BANG TIDY WINDOWS' was his reply. I’m glad they haven’t cut the bit where the Judge creased up laughing, then tried to compose himself but started laughing again. It was a really funny moment in courtroom and the whole court room were in laughter. I did try to keep a straight face all the way through but failed on a few occasions! Eventually the ruling came and I won my case and was awarded the full £1,250 that was paid into my bank account yesterday (2nd February 2015). The show will be aired on the 4th February and by the time you read this, I’m sure the show would have been shown. Once we’d finished in the studio they gave us £30 cash in an envelope for a few snacks on the way home and our taxi from the home station to our home.
All in all we had a very busy couple of days but was it worth it. Would I do it again? I’d do it in a heartbeat.. but maybe next time I’d get a taxi and not a train. The whole crew involved in the show earned top marks from me and my full respect for the way they treated us. It was a funny and emotional show. The producer as promised phoned me after the show and asked my thoughts on it, the whole crew was in the office watching it and thought it was one of their best shows yet.
He
owed me a balance of £1,250 of which he'd paid me a total of £250. But after - Darren went into
hiding.. we made up in the court room entrance because he was debt free
and ITV were paying his bill for him, so I finally got my money in my
bank account yesterday! He avoided me for a long time and we did fall out.. but at the end of the show and on Camera - we made up and are now friends again.
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