Meet Leeds's own go-to man

Charlie Parker is not one of those people who takes things lying down. In his 30-plus years as a salesman, he’s taken more than his fair share of knocks

Perhaps the biggest of those came in 1999, when he lost his wife, Victoria, the mother of their five children, who were then aged between 14 and four, suddenly from a brain haemorrhage.

“I remember the first time I went out socially after she died and, because it’s such a tight-knit community, everyone knew who I was and that I’d lost my wife and had five kids. I had a series of nannies, most of whom were fired until I was approached by a woman called Gilly Cowburn. She knew who I was and offered to help. It was a godsend. She came at 8.30 ever morning for seven years, which allowed me to go out and work.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Charlie, 57, was later swindled out of $60,000 and when the financial crisis struck in 2007, he was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.

But he refused to give up and vowed to continue his business - Parkers Promotional Products - rather than sit at home on benefits. Now, having recently fallen in love and re-married - he met wife Janie, 44, on a night out with one of his sons and the couple married in 2014 - he has turned his business around.

“I’ll do business with anyone. Every product under the sun is out there somewhere, it’s my job to dig and dig until I find it,” says Parker 57. “If you want 100 pens with your branding on the side, I’m your man,” he enthuses. “If you want 100,000, I can do that too.” And it’s not just pens. He can pretty much get his hands on anything you want. He adds: “If I don’t know anyone, then I know a man who does. If time is on our side we can get the best deal from China but if” a customers want something quickly in a week it can be sourced within days from across the UK.” His company has just imported and branded 15,000 pairs of socks, 11,000 pairs of ear muffs and 15,000 flip flops but he’ll happily trade in just about anything from T-shirts and torches to gaezebos. He supplies Aviva Rail North formerly known as Northern Rail, all the lanyards at the Palace of Westminster, Arla Foods and the University of Leeds but his products can also be found in well-known bingo halls and even Asda.

He puts much of his tenacity down to his late father, Albert, a real Yorkshire thoroughbred who died in March aged 86. He was a larger than life character and a salesman who obviously left his mark on Charlie.

“I’d had a series of jobs and been sacked from them all - perhaps the worst example of that was being a waiter, I was sacked for smoking a cigarette as I served drinks to the owner in the bar. Clearly, it wasn’t for me.”

He had other jobs, including a builder’s mate and estate agent but it was in sales where he excelled, building the business up to a £2m turnover, a peak he has just about returned to in recent times.

His mantra? He never turns anyone away.