Eight Most Requested Investigation Services Between Christmas and New Year

Titan PI TV lifts the lid on the festive season surge in enquiries

As many people across the country wind down between Christmas and New Year, private investigators at Titan – one of England’s largest investigation agencies – are doing exactly the opposite.

In the latest episode of Titan PI TV, host and managing director Simon Henson takes viewers inside the “live workings” of a busy investigation agency during one of its most intense periods of the year. Broadcasting from Titan’s Derby headquarters on a gloomy Boxing Day afternoon, Simon explains why the festive lull for most businesses is a peak season for private investigations – and reveals the eight most requested services between Christmas and New Year.

With 10 offices across England, from Truro in the South West to Manchester in the North West, Titan sees trends that cut across geography and sector. The picture that emerges is of a period marked by heightened emotions, financial pressure, relationship strain and strategic planning – all of which drive a spike in demand for professional investigative support.

1. Absenteeism Investigations: “Number One Demand”

Top of Titan’s seasonal list is absenteeism surveillance – by far the most requested service over the festive period.

Many businesses find that sickness levels mysteriously rise between Christmas and New Year. While most employees are entirely genuine, a proportion will take advantage of the time of year to claim sick leave while enjoying extended holidays, working elsewhere, or otherwise breaching their terms of employment.

To help employers distinguish between legitimate absence and misconduct, Titan deploys covert surveillance operatives to monitor and record an employee’s movements.

• Deployment: Typically two surveillance operatives are assigned to a case.
• Role: They covertly watch, monitor and record the subject’s movements, capturing stills and footage.
• Output: Titan provides updates throughout the deployment and, afterwards, a comprehensive report containing images extracted from surveillance footage. This evidence is fully admissible in UK courts and tribunals, making it suitable for disciplinary proceedings, employment tribunals or civil litigation.
• Cost: Operatives are charged at £60 per hour plus VAT, with a minimum five-hour deployment, bringing the baseline cost to £600 plus VAT for an absenteeism investigation.

For employers, Simon notes, that can be a modest investment compared with the cost of ongoing fraud, false sickness claims or long-running disputes.

2. Process Serving: Legal Papers Delivered in Person

The second most in-demand service is process serving – the formal delivery of legal documents to individuals.

Over the festive period, legal and financial pressures often come to a head. Creditors may move to enforce debts, and individuals may choose to pursue long-delayed matrimonial or civil actions once Christmas is out of the way.

Titan’s process servers attend in person to hand legal documents directly to the respondent:

• Typical documents include:
  • Statutory demands and winding up notices in relation to debt.
  • Divorce petitions and other matrimonial documents.
• Service level: Titan will make up to three attempts to serve the documents in person.
• Cost: A fixed fee of £150 plus VAT covers those three attendance attempts.

Once service is completed, a statement or certificate of service can be provided, ensuring that the legal process can proceed and removing disputes about whether documents were properly delivered.

3. Person Tracing: Debtors, Ex-Partners and Long-Lost Family

Third on the list is person tracing – an area that becomes particularly active around Christmas.

Titan is instructed to trace a wide range of individuals, including:

• Debtors who have moved address or deliberately disappeared.
• Former partners where one party has decided to proceed with a divorce but has lost contact with the other.
• Long-lost relatives or friends, as people feel the pull of family at Christmas and decide this is the year to reconnect.

Simon explains that person tracing is structured to give clients confidence:

• Turnaround time: Typically 24 hours.
• Charging model: No trace, no fee – if Titan cannot find the individual, the client receives a full refund.
• Cost: £300 plus VAT if the person is successfully traced.
• Information required:
  • Essential: Name and either date of birth or approximate age.
  • Desirable (but not essential): Last known address (no matter how old), telephone number or other historic contact details.

If the trace is unsuccessful, the client pays nothing; if successful, they receive a verified new address for the subject.

4. Lie Detector Tests: “Madness” Up to Christmas Eve

In fourth place – and one of the most emotionally charged services – are lie detector tests.

According to Simon, Titan has been “so busy with lie detector tests up to Christmas Eve – madness, absolute madness”. The drivers are overwhelmingly matrimonial issues. Couples want, as he puts it, to “bury the hatchet or at least know” the truth, seeking closure on suspicions of past infidelity during the relationship.

Titan uses an advanced system called EyeDetect by Converus:

• Duration: Around 30 minutes per test.
• Cost: £400 plus VAT.
• Results: Instant, delivered immediately after the test.
• Process:
  • The client and Titan agree three key questions to be asked.
  • A test writer drafts the formal test based on those questions.
  • A trained examiner then administers the test.

While many people request same-day testing, Simon cautions that this is not always realistic – especially on days like Boxing Day. Tests are more typically scheduled for the next day, subject to examiner availability.

5. Bug Sweeps: Protecting Offices and Homes from Hidden Devices

Number five is technical surveillance counter-measures (TSCM) – more commonly known as bug sweeps.

With many companies partially closed or running with skeleton staff over Christmas, suspicions sometimes arise that listening devices or covert cameras may have been planted before the break, particularly where sensitive information seems to be leaking.

Bug sweeps are requested for both commercial and domestic settings:

• In businesses:
  • Concerns often follow periods where contractors have been on site or where commercially sensitive discussions appear to have been compromised.
  • Titan can deploy one or more technicians to sweep priority areas such as boardrooms, directors’ offices and the managing director’s room – the spaces where key decisions and confidential conversations really take place.
• In homes:
  • Often linked to relationship breakdowns or acrimonious separations, where one party suspects the other of planting listening devices in bedrooms or communal areas.
  • The trigger is often that highly specific private information is being fed back by someone who should not have access to it.

Simon stresses that Titan aims to give “100% satisfaction” that no unauthorised devices are present.

• Cost: Bug sweeps start at £1,000 plus VAT, whether for a house or an office, with the final cost dependent on size and complexity.
• Scope management: If a client requests that every workstation in a large office is tested, Titan will advise realistically on cost versus benefit. In many cases, prioritising key decision-making areas is more proportionate, though a full sweep is possible if the client insists and understands the additional time and expense.

The quieter Christmas period can actually be an ideal time for bug sweeps, particularly where business owners do not want employees to know that a sweep is taking place.

6. Graphology: Questioned Signatures on Wills

The sixth service, graphology, reflects a more sombre reality of the festive season.

“A lot of people die at Christmas – it’s a fact,” Simon observes. In the New Year, as probate proceedings begin, disputes sometimes arise over whether a signature on a will is genuine. Suspicion of forgery or undue influence can quickly escalate into a family conflict.

Titan’s forensic handwriting experts assess whether a questioned signature matches known genuine signatures:

• What is required:
  • A scanned copy of the questioned signature on the will (the original document is not needed initially).
  • Up to 12 known genuine signatures from the deceased, where available. Simon acknowledges that 12 is not always possible, but the more exemplars, the better.
• Sources of genuine signatures can include:
  • Old bus passes
  • Passports
  • Bank cards
  • Any other document bearing an original signature

Even six to eight genuine samples may be sufficient for a reliable analysis, provided they are clearly scanned.

• Outcome: Titan can state whether the will signature is likely to be from the same author as the known genuine signatures.
• Cost and timescale: The service costs £450 plus VAT, with a seven-day lead time from instruction and payment to delivery of the formal report.

That report can carry significant weight in probate disputes and related legal proceedings.

7. GPS Vehicle Tracking: Intelligence, Not Direct Evidence

Seventh on Titan’s Boxing Day list is GPS vehicle tracking.

This service allows clients to understand where a vehicle goes over a set period, typically a week:

• Cost: £400 plus VAT per week, covering seven days of tracking.
• Use cases:
  • Corporate: Companies concerned about false expense claims, misuse of company vehicles, or staff working elsewhere during paid hours.
  • Matrimonial: Partners who believe a spouse or partner is not where they say they are, but know that they will be using a specific vehicle.

The tracker records location data in real time, enabling Titan to report where the vehicle has been and for how long. However, Simon is careful to distinguish between intelligence and evidence:

• GPS tracking data does not identify who is in the vehicle – it simply shows the vehicle’s movements.
• As such, it is best treated as intelligence to guide further investigative steps (for example, targeted physical surveillance), rather than standalone legal proof.

8. Physical Penetration Testing: Stress-Testing Security Protocols

Rounding out the eight most requested services is physical penetration testing – a security discipline that, Simon notes with a smile, “usually gets a bit of a giggle from the rude individuals” because of the terminology.

In reality, it is a serious and increasingly important service for organisations concerned about physical security, social engineering and insider threat.

Physical penetration testing involves Titan operatives attempting to:

• Bypass existing security protocols and procedures.
• Gain unauthorised access to premises or secure areas.
• Move within the premises undetected, leaving red flags or physical markers to show where they have been.

Following the exercise:

• Titan produces a full report, including footage of where operatives went and what they did while inside.
• The report sets out practical recommendations to improve security, close vulnerabilities and prevent similar intrusions in future.

While Christmas can be a useful time to access certain sites due to reduced staffing, Simon notes that for penetration testing to be truly representative, it is often better conducted when the business is operating under normal conditions. By contrast, bug sweeps often benefit from a quieter office, especially where discretion from staff is key.

A Busy Festive Season Behind the Scenes

As Simon signs off this Boxing Day edition of Titan PI TV, he reflects on the unusual nature of the period between Christmas and New Year. For many households it is the calm after the storm; for private investigators, it is a time of intense demand fuelled by personal crises, commercial concerns and long-postponed decisions finally being acted upon.

From absenteeism investigations and GPS tracking to bug sweeps, graphology and physical penetration testing, Titan’s caseload offers a revealing snapshot of the issues that quietly surge beneath the surface of the festive season.

Simon closes the episode by wishing viewers a very happy New Year and hoping they have enjoyed a great Christmas. He encourages those interested in the work of a modern investigation agency to support the channel:

• Give the video a thumbs up.
• Subscribe to Titan PI TV on YouTube to avoid missing future episodes – “it’s free,” he reminds viewers.

For those who prefer audio, the Titan PI TV podcast is also available to download wherever listeners get their podcasts.

With that, Titan’s Boxing Day broadcast draws to a close – and the agency’s investigators head back out into the field, responding to the eight most in-demand services of the festive season.

What’s Next on Titan PI TV?

Titan PI TV continues to grow steadily, with over 3,100 subscribers and counting—a testament to the appetite for straight-talking guidance in a complex field. If you found Simon Simon’s insights useful, subscribe to the channel to catch future episodes. New content drops every Friday at 3:00 pm, offering grounded advice for investigators, agency owners, and professionals who work with them.

Thank you for reading, watching, or listening to this week’s blog post on Titan PI TV. For more expert advice and behind-the-scenes insights, subscribe to Titan PI TV on YouTube or download the Titan PI TV podcast wherever you get your podcasts. If you found this information helpful, please give us a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel. Stay tuned for more insights into the world of private investigations. Until next time, stay safe and keep learning!

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