I wish to refer to two cases concerning auctioneers which caused me a great deal of grief and which indicate the need for regulation from outside and for greater transparency. Is there any reason a profession such as auctioneering should ever have to handle money? I see no need for it to handle, hold and give money on behalf of its clients and it is extraordinary that it feels the need to do so. Auctioneers take booking deposits from people. In the first case to which I will refer, a vendor was selling his house for a considerable sum of money and a very reputable auctioneer from this country carried out the transaction on this behalf. Without the permission, request or knowledge of the vendor, he took a very large so-called booking deposit from the purchaser, who – as he or she might rightly do – handed it over thinking that it had some sort of legal standing. A large booking deposit – I believe it was £25,000 or £30,000 in this case – has no legal standing at all and gives the purchaser no rights whatsoever. It is taken without permission and without request by the auctioneer and it is held by him normally until the sale is completed.