A LARGS man has finally received the £20,000 owed to him by another local businessman after a long-running legal wrangle over an unpaid furniture bill.

Colin Scott has spoken of his relief after the saga finally came to an end as he and Edward Fox agreed a settlement over the debt.

We previously told how Mr Scott won a court case involving a dispute of the supply of bespoke goods for Mr Fox's exclusive bar restaurant in Glasgow's West End.

Mr Scott's firm, Target Furniture, provided £90,000 of goods for Mr Fox's Hyde Bar - but says the firm then refused to cough up.

Mr Scott had arranged a credit deal with Mr Fox, who subsequently stopped short of paying an outstanding five figure sum, claiming that some of the items didn't arrive.

Target had documents showing it was signed for and took the case to court.

A hearing at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court ordered Mr Fox to pay Target Furniture the sum of £15,000 plus agreed expenses of £7,000 by 11 September.

However, the payment for the remaining outstanding £22,000 had passed in September and the matter returned to court.

Target were given permission to pursue the debt through a variety of methods - including the freezing of bank accounts or by seizing items from outside the defendant's property.

It was arranged for sheriff officers to serve a charge for payment and an inhibition upon Mr Fox.

The inhibition is a device that puts a freeze on him selling or raising finance on any heritable property he might own without reference in the first place to the debt due to Target Furniture Ltd.

This week Mr Scott told the News the payment had finally been made in full.

He said: "I am glad that the matter has at last been resolved. It has taken a long time, over six years.

"It is a shame it took so many court appearances to get to this stage but at least now the bill has been paid and we can move on.

"The whole episode has been absolutely terrible and it didn't have to happen like this. I remember we shook hands on the deal - it was a gentleman's handshake and he went back on everything he said.

"He played on the fact that I knew his family, which put me in a horrible situation.

"It took up so much time that I couldn't get on with my other jobs and I had to gather and collate all the correspondence for the court.

"It's been a tough time and I am just hugely relieved the matter is now at an end."