Professional Investigation
& Field Services
Tracing, Process Serving, Investigation, Field Visits
About Us
We deliver professional investigative services and field support to legal professionals, corporate clients, and private individuals in Bristol and across the South West. We handle every instruction with absolute confidentiality.
We assist with civil matters, litigation preparation, enforcement support, personal cases, and business-related concerns. Through accurate intelligence gathering and discreet field visits, we provide clear, evidence-based results that help clients make informed decisions.
Field Services For Legal Professionals
We provide professional field visits where in-person attendance is required to progress a case. Our field visits are used to establish contact, obtain documents or signatures, verify information, or capture evidence at an address when electronic or postal methods have been unsuccessful. Each visit is conducted with discretion and professionalism and provides clear reporting.
The following outlines our core field visit services. If you require support with a specific or tailored instruction not listed below, please contact us to discuss your requirements.
Client Contact & Re-Engagement
In-person visit where individuals cannot be contacted remotely.
What we do:
Attempt direct contact at the address provided
Gather key details relevant to your instruction
Provide the individual with your contact information if required
Produce a clear report summarising the visit
Best suited for tracing witnesses, verifying statements, and contacting individuals who are unresponsive or difficult to reach.
Document Delivery & Signing
Secure face-to-face delivery of formal documents.
What we do:
Hand-deliver correspondence such as forms, notices, tenancy documents, or financial statements
Obtain signatures and return scanned copies to you promptly
Produce a clear report summarising the visit
Best suited for landlords, businesses, and legal teams requiring confirmed document management.
ID Checks (In-Person)
For situations requiring identity verification, such as compliance checks, high-value claims, or litigation matters.
What we do:
Visual inspection of identification
Record relevant details
Produce a clear report summarising the visit
Evidence Capture (Photographs & Reporting)
In-person evidence gathering for situations where photographic documentation is required.
What we do:
Capture clear, date & time-stamped photographic evidence as instructed
Produce a clear report summarising the visit
Address Verification
When remote checks cannot confirm an individual’s address, we verify in person.
What we do:
Attend addresses linked to your records
Conduct enquiries per instruction
Confirm whether the individual resides at the location
Produce a clear report summarising the visit
We operate strictly within UK legislation. All visits we conduct are discreet and professional.
Service levels
Our standard field visit service provides professional in-person attendance of up to 30 minutes on site for straightforward instructions. Visits may be used to establish contact, deliver or collect documents or obtain signatures, verify information, or capture evidence.
Our extended field visit service allows up to one hour on site and is suitable for more complex instructions requiring deeper engagement, evidence collection, or third-party interaction.
People Tracing
We provide professional, discreet, and legally compliant person tracing for private, legal, and corporate clients in Bristol and the South West. We trace debtors, witnesses, former tenants, missing contacts, and individuals who have gone off-grid, delivering verified, actionable intelligence.
Our approach combines advanced online research, open-source intelligence, regulated and premium databases, credit reference data, electoral roll, public records, social media, direct enquiries, and field verification where required. All findings are independently cross-checked before reporting.
All work is conducted only where a lawful basis exists (legitimate interest, legal obligation, or legal claims). No unlawfully obtained, private, or intrusive data is accessed, retained, or disclosed.
Reporting & Escalation
Where traced, clients receive current address, contact details (where identified) and verification notes in a detailed PDF report. Instructions can be escalated to field enquiries or process serving if needed.
Digital Trace (Fixed Fee)
A rapid, intelligence-led desktop trace using regulated data and OSINT, typically delivered within 24 hours. It identifies strong address leads where a digital or public footprint exists. As no physical attendance is included, results may indicate a probable address rather than confirmed occupancy.
Each instruction begins with a viability assessment—if no credible lead is found, the trace is discontinued and no fee is charged. A strong address lead is defined as credit reference intelligence plus at least one independent corroborating source; where identified, full desktop verification is completed and the fixed fee applies.
Verified Trace (Outcome-Based)
For matters requiring certainty, this service adds discreet field attendance and enquiries to confirm a current residential address suitable for lawful contact or service. Results are typically provided within three working days. If an address cannot be verified despite reasonable effort, no tracing fee is charged.
Service levels
Our Digital Trace service is a fixed-fee, intelligence-led desktop tracing solution using regulated data sources and open-source intelligence. It is designed to quickly identify strong address leads where an individual maintains a public or digital footprint, with all findings cross-checked and delivered in a clear PDF report within 24 hours.
Our Verified Trace service is an outcome-based solution combining digital intelligence with discreet field enquiries to physically verify a current residential address suitable for lawful contact or service. Where a current address cannot be verified despite reasonable investigative effort, no professional tracing fee is charged, with results provided within three working days.
Process Serving
We provide fast, discreet, and fully compliant process serving for solicitors, law firms, and legal professionals in Bristol and across the South West. We serve legal documents in accordance with the Civil Procedure Rules, ensuring accurate service and evidential integrity.
We accept both Legal Aid instructions and privately funded matters. We are equipped to handle bulk instructions, providing consistent delivery, structured reporting, and dependable turnaround across volume caseloads.
We provide next-day and same-day process serving. Each service includes up to three attendances at the same address, with at least one evening visit to maximise the prospect of personal service. We provide live updates throughout, and completion is confirmed by a statement of service or sworn affidavit.
Where a service address may be unknown or unreliable, we provide integrated tracing and process serving. Our tracing service establishes current residency prior to attendance, minimising failed attempts.
Service levels
Our next-day process serving service is suitable for matters requiring prompt action while ensuring documents are served lawfully and professionally.
Our same-day process serving service is designed for urgent instructions where immediate attendance is required to meet pressing deadlines or court requirements.
Investigation
We deliver professional, discreet, and legally compliant covert surveillance and investigation services for legal professionals, insurers, corporate organisations, and private individuals in Bristol and across the South West.
Our investigations are focused on obtaining accurate, defensible evidence to support litigation, enforcement, insurance decisions, workplace investigations, and sensitive personal matters. All activity is conducted lawfully, proportionately, and under strict confidentiality.
Covert Surveillance
Corporate and workplace surveillance is commonly instructed to investigate false absenteeism or long-term sickness abuse, internal theft or misconduct, and breaches of company policy or contractual obligations.
Insurance and fraud surveillance are regularly used in personal injury and loss-of-earnings claims, exaggerated or fabricated injuries, and staged or suspicious incidents.
Domestic and personal surveillance provides discreet support for sensitive matters such as suspected infidelity, breaches of child custody arrangements, and concerns relating to non-molestation or restraining orders.
Verification Services
We provide professional, discreet, and fully compliant verification services to confirm identities, addresses, relationships, employment, tenancy, and other critical facts required for legal, financial, and personal decision-making. Our work combines digital intelligence with discreet field attendance to deliver verified, decision-grade results in full compliance with UK law.
We provide address verification to confirm whether a subject resides at a specific location, identity verification using lawful records and physical confirmation where required, and employment or occupation verification through digital and field-based enquiries. Relationship and cohabitation verification establishes whether individuals are living together or regularly present at an address, while tenancy and property verification confirms occupancy, residency, and associated indicators such as vehicles. Business and company verification confirms legitimacy using Companies House data, open-source intelligence, director checks, trading presence analysis, and field verification where appropriate.
Background Check Services
We deliver discreet, lawful, and fully verified background checks for private, legal, and corporate clients. These checks identify risk indicators, verify key information, and support informed decision-making for personal reassurance, safeguarding, litigation, and due diligence.
A Targeted Background Check, delivered within 1–2 working days, focuses on a specific concern and includes identity and address verification, address history, basic financial red flags, social media review, and employment or occupation indicators.
A Comprehensive Background Check, delivered within 2–5 working days, provides deeper analysis for personal, legal, or business matters and includes full address review, financial risk indicators, employment and company involvement, business ownership indicators, in-depth digital footprint analysis, linked persons, and a summary of notable red flags.
Background checks may reveal identity and address information, residential stability, employment indicators, company involvement, CCJs or insolvency records, adverse media, lifestyle indicators, online reputation, and associated persons.
To remain lawful and ethical, we do not access bank account information, full credit files, police or criminal records without authority, private communications, or restricted social media content.
GPS Vehicle Tracking Services
We provide professional, discreet, and legally compliant GPS vehicle tracking for corporate and private clients across the South West. GPS tracking delivers objective movement intelligence to verify routines, analyse travel patterns, and corroborate behaviour over time.
The service includes covert deployment and retrieval of the tracking device, secure monitoring for the agreed period, and a clear time-stamped movement report. GPS tracking can reveal travel routines, recurring locations, overnight stops, deviations from established patterns, and movement intelligence supporting fraud, infidelity, or misconduct investigations.
Fixed-Fee Pricing
We operate a transparent fixed-fee pricing model across most investigation, tracing, and process serving services. Fees are competitive within the UK professional investigations market and designed to provide certainty, transparency, and value without compromising compliance, evidential quality, or reliability. No work is undertaken without written fee confirmation and client approval.
Service levels
We offer three verification levels to match the complexity of each instruction.
Digital Verification is an online-only service suitable for early-stage or low-complexity checks and includes public-record searches, credit reference intelligence, digital footprint and open-source analysis, digital evidence capture, and a clear PDF report.
Standard Verification combines digital checks with field attendance to confirm address, occupancy, tenancy, or employment. This includes field attendance of up to 30 minutes, photographs, direct enquiries, and a clear PDF report.
Comprehensive Verification provides extended field attendance of up to one hour alongside digital checks and direct or third-party enquiries for complex or pre-litigation verification matters.
To instruct us, please send us an email
Email address: contact@hicxfield.com
Phone number: 01174 631202
Members:
Hiscox Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance
The Information Commissioner’s Office: ZB972788
United Kingdom Professional Investigators Network (UKPIN)
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