SOUTHEND is considered a safe place to live, but not if you work for the county court bailiffs.

In fact, the men who are paid to do the job are so worried about being attacked they wear bullet-proof vests.

Bailiffs are commonly thought of as hired thugs who have no thought for their victims.

But this is an unfair description as the major skill bailiffs need is diplomacy, not brute force.

Jon Burton and Dan McCubbin are two self-employed bailiffs who work for local councils and have the power to seize people’s possessions and cars.

On any one day they may have dozens of warrants to work through for unpaid parking tickets in Southend and the surrounding areas.

They are used to being sworn at, but have also been attacked and chased with baseball bats.

Former soldier Mr Burton said: “You never know what someone will be like until you knock on the door.

“Sometimes they apologise and say they are sorry for not paying the fine earlier and pay straight away.”

Often they are called out for people who get a straightforward parking fine, which has escalated into hundreds or even thousands of pounds.

Between them they have clamped their way through a range of cars, from old bangers to Bentleys worth £120,000.

They first have to explain what the debt is for and this often leads to furious confrontations.

Mr Burton explained: “We are seen as the evil men taking away their vehicle. To some people, their car is their whole world.

“I don’t mind so much the anger. I can understand that.

“What I do mind is people leaving it so long and not paying their parking ticket. It can go down different ways. It might be that they have paid and they can prove it.”

They even record some conversations for their own protection.

On Tuesday the pair started off in Bromley, before moving to Southend.

One car was towed away from Norwich Close. It was the third time bailiffs had visited the owner and asked for payment of what started out as a £90 fine earlier this year.

It has now increased to about £900. His vehicle was taken and will be kept for nine days, before it is sold at auction to pay off the debt. Mr McCubbin, 29, said: “We don’t want to have to tow the car because it increases the bill as we have to pay for the tow truck.”

They don’t leave clamps, which cost up to £150 to buy, on for very long through fear they will be cut off. Mr McCubbin said: “If we don’t clamp the car then the next time we come back the car won’t be here.

“If we leave the clamp on for too long then we won’t see that again either.”

In fact, a pensioner in Rochford earlier this year used an angle grinder to cut the clamp off after the bailiffs had left it on for half an hour.

He was cautioned for criminal damage by police.

Mr Burton, 31, got into the business after leaving the Army and while waiting to join the police force saw an advert looking for bailiffs.

Mr McCubbin was a doorman in Southend before becoming a bailiff.

But it’s a tough profession. They now wear bullet-proof and stab-proof vests, similar to Essex Police, after a man attacked Mr Burton with a screwdriver when his car was clamped.