Robert Merry, an independent stone consultant and project manager who ran his own company for 17 years and now also runs training courses on project management, gives his personal slant on the stone industry this month.

Helicopters crashing in central London, horse meat ‘beef’ burgers and lasagne ready meals found in supermarkets. Life’s out of control. 

This was Thursday. By Sunday I expected to hear of sausages containing hedgehog – “child’s mother suspicious after son’s accidental lip piercing from cold sausage packed lunch – Shock! Horror! Probe! Then what? “Sun denies tapping boy’s phone – Lord Levison style enquiry launched”. “Hedgehog denies reckless shedding and blames evolution – supermarket refuses to comment” .

The death of the two people as a result of the helicopter hitting a crane and crashing was terrible and tragic. 

The crane driver was late for the first time since workmates could remember. Fate? The pilot seemed to divert the stricken helicopter into the road, avoiding the busy train tracks and certain mayhem and carnage on the railway line. An heroic gesture in death.

Passing the crane from north of the Thames later the same day, I couldn’t see any damage at first. Then I slowly realised there was something missing, like one of those ‘spot the difference’ picture games. There was no horizontal jib, just the tower and the counter balance weights. The jib was dangling vertically, no longer in control.

To add to the sense of drama, the next day the electricity failed in the building I was working in. As the battery energy ebbed away on my laptop and the day started to wane outside, the room grew colder and more desolate and we all headed home early. 

February is a hard, cold month. It seems an age until the next legitimate break. And the credit card bill from the Christmas excesses has arrived. I peel back the envelope with quiet trepidation. I thought I knew what it would contain but was still shocked. Had we really spent that much? Like many, I suspect, we had been more frugal than in Christmases past, but now it has to be paid for it doesn’t feel as if it was frugal enough.

Bills come in quickly enough, unlike payments from clients. One November invoice was promised a week ago. “Cheque’s in the post.” It’s still in the post. I have no control over this, either.

Then I read about www.gov.uk/

make-money-claim-online, an online version of the small claims court for recovering up to £100,000. No solicitors required. Fill in the form online and a county court in Northampton issues formal court papers to the defendant, who has 14 days to reply.

A judgement is passed if there is no defence and you get to instruct the court bailiffs to make a call at the debtor’s address to collect the cash or goods to the value. Sweet justice for those lost nights worrying. A thousand cases are issued every month in this manner and 80% go undefended, apparently. Judgement comes within a few weeks.

If a claim is defended, there are online forms to complete and then you might need to take legal advice if the case goes for a hearing. 

Still, at least the first step is simple, takes little time (my source says 20minutes to complete the online form) and it’s cheap – typically a debt of £3,000 costs only £100 to process.

So when I’ve finished emptying the freezer of all those ready meals (because I don’t shoot horses, do I?) I’m going to take control of something in March. 

If you owe me money – watch out! I know what I’m doing. I’m in control. And I’m coming after you!

Robert Merry, MCIOB, ran his own stone company for 17 years and is now an independent Stone Consultant and Project Manager. He also delivers training programmes on all aspects of Estimating and Project Management – details and dates are on his website. Tel: 0207 502 6353 / 07771 997621