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Percy Bridge was an out-of-work man who conned Elsie Tanner out of some money in January 1967. Percy told Elsie that it was he who pulled her grandson Paul Cheveski out of Weatherfield Canal when he fell in by accident a few months earlier. Elsie was confused by his behaviour at first, as he'd tried to talk to her in the Rovers and she had to wheedle the confession out of him after seeing him in the Street. When he told her who he was, a grateful Elsie cooked him dinner and gave him £2, feeling sorry for him as he was out of work.

In actuality, the mystery man who rescued Paul from the canal was not Percy Bridge, but Dave Smith. Elsie found out a few weeks later, just after giving Percy money to pay off his old landlady who Percy claimed was withholding his clothes until she got his rent money. In the Rovers, Dave produced Paul's cap as proof that he was the rescuer, and an appalled Elsie managed to get her money back from Percy. The incident brought Elsie and Dave closer together.

While in Coronation Street, Percy went after the shop flat but Emily Nugent returned to the area and David and Irma Barlow rented it to her instead. He also spent some time in the Rovers, getting friendly with another unemployed man, Stan Ogden. Percy told others that he was brought up by his then-85-year-old grandmother who lived in Bessie Street, but whether this is true or whether he was only in the area to get close to Elsie is unknown.

List of appearances[]

1967[]

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