Channel 5 will pay “substantial damages” to an 88-year-old optometrist left distraught after featuring in an episode of the TV show Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away! Brian Hitchin launched legal action after he appeared in episode 16 – broadcast to almost 12 million people – of the programme’s fourth series.
He claimed there was “misuse” of his private information through the “filming, making and multiple broadcasts” of the episode from October 2016 until April 2021, and sought damages. On Friday, a hearing at the High Court in London before Mr Justice Saini was told the dispute has been resolved through a settlement.
Felicity McMahon, representing Mr Hitchin, told the court that, between April 22 2016 and June 16 2016, two High Court Enforcement Agents (HCEAs) visited the practice he ran in Stone, Staffordshire. They were there to enforce a High Court “writ of control” that an equipment supplier obtained against Mr Hitchin to seize goods unless he paid money he allegedly owed.
