Charlie Travers

Charlie Travers was a mate of Mike Baldwin's from London. In October 1990, Mike called in a favour from Charlie by getting him to pose as a buyer for Ingram's Textiles and put in a low bid for the factory in order to convince Jackie Ingram that it was a bad time to sell. Having publicly endorsed Jackie's decision to sell up after her husband Peter's death despite it putting him out of a job, Mike concocted the scheme with Charlie to get Jackie to change her mind about putting the factory on the market.

Charlie was shown around the factory by Jackie and sales manager Ralph Dobson. To keep up appearances, Charlie asked expected questions such as the age of the equipment and what the staff turnover was. At one point, he questioned factory worker Ivy Brennan about the ease with which the equipment was operated, and had a laugh when she compared it favourably to her former employer, Baldwin's Causals. At the end of his tour, Charlie offered Jackie less than half of her minimum valuation, which she considered an insulting offer and refused. Charlie then went to celebrate with whisky at Mike's flat, where he was introduced to Mike's partner Alma Sedgewick.

Mike's gambit had the additional bonus of making Ralph Dobson - his rival for Jackie's trust - look foolish for pushing to sell, and when Jackie was scared into sticking with the factory, Dobson gave her his resignation, leaving Mike free to manipulate her without opposition. Jackie didn't learn the truth about Charlie until July 1991, when a week after marrying Mike, she was told about the con as an act of spite by Phil Jennings after he was refused a £500 loan by Mike.


 * Credited as "Charles Travers", the character as nominally referred to as "Charlie".