From bullying bailiffs to bricks and mortar, our experts share advice and the best deals on the high street

Every Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.

Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Amanda Cable will give you the best advice for buying your dream home and Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes.

Judge Rinder – The Sun’s legal expert

IMAGINE this. It is 9pm one night in December.

You have finally managed to get your kids off to sleep and are now sitting in front of the TV when there is a loud bang at the door.

You are not used to having guests at this time of night so are very uneasy at the late hour of the caller.

When you open the door there are three large aggressive-looking men who announce they are bailiffs and have a court order to seize your property.

They crash into your home and begin grabbing anything of value they can find, including Christmas presents. Your children — now awake — scream in fear at the unfolding scene.

Two days later you receive a bill charging you for the time that these thugs spent at your property.

The appalling fact is that this is not a figment of my imagination but was, for decades, the real experience of families across the UK who had, like tens of thousands of people, found themselves in a cycle of crippling debt.

In 2014, this kind of vicious strong-arming which had been used by some bailiffs was outlawed.

It is now completely unlawful for bailiffs to enter homes at night, to act without proof of identity or lawful authority, or to try to impose unauthorised fees.

Although this legislation has been quite effective, a report published last week, compiled by several charities (including AdviceUK and The Children’s Society) revealed that some ­bailiffs still regularly intimidated debtors, failed to accept offers of payment and also failed to take account of whether a debtor was particularly vulnerable.

This is totally outrageous. The problem here is that there is currently no independent regulator that governs the conduct of bailiffs or a single and ­simple way for people to complain. I completely agree with the findings of this report that this needs to change.