Every family business has a day nobody plans but everybody remembers: the day the youngest one is handed the keys and sent out alone. For the Mathewsons, that day came in Series 13, when Charlie Mathewson drove out to the North York Moors on his first solo collection to fetch an old Austin van. No dad in the passenger seat. No grandad checking the paperwork. Just a young man, a trailer, and fifty years of family reputation sitting on his shoulders.

Charlie Mathewson: Quick Facts

Name	Charlie Mathewson
Known for	Bangers & Cash on U&Yesterday
Family role	Third generation of the Mathewson family
Father	Paul Mathewson, auctioneer
Mother	Angela Mathewson
Grandfather	Derek Mathewson, founder
Uncle	Dave Mathewson
Works at	Mathewsons Classic Cars Ltd, Pickering, North Yorkshire
Job	Vehicle collections and general business duties
Series 13 milestone	First solo collection, an Austin van from the North York Moors
Age	Not publicly confirmed

Who Is Charlie Mathewson?

Charlie Mathewson is Derek Mathewson’s grandson and the son of Paul Mathewson, the auctioneer viewers see running the sales. He works at the family firm in North Yorkshire alongside his grandfather, his father, his uncle Dave and fellow grandson Jack. If you are new to the show and cannot work out who is related to whom, our guide to the Bangers and Cash cast lays out all three generations. Charlie represents something the programme has been quietly building towards for years: proof that this is not just a television family, but a real business with a future.

The Third Generation Arrives

Derek started trading cars in 1970. His sons joined and made it a proper firm. Now the grandsons are coming through, and that is genuinely rare. Most family businesses do not survive the second handover, let alone the third. Statistics on this are famously bleak. Yet here is Charlie, learning the same trade his grandfather learned by driving from Bedford to Enfield twice a week to buy stock at trade sales. The tools have changed and the cameras have arrived, but the skill being passed down is identical: look at a car, and know honestly what it is worth.

Charlie’s First Solo Collection

Series 13 opened a new chapter, and the programme made no secret of it. Charlie was sent out on his own to collect an Austin van from the North York Moors, his first solo job. It sounds small. It is not. Collecting a car means meeting the owner, checking the vehicle matches its description, loading it safely and getting it home in one piece, all while representing a business built over five decades. Anyone who has been trusted with something important for the first time knows exactly how that drive home feels.

On the Road With Paul

Not every job is a solo one, and some of the best moments in Series 13 come from Charlie working alongside his father. The pair travelled down to Northampton together to extract a Daimler Sovereign and a Sunbeam Alpine, which is the kind of trip where the real teaching happens. You cannot learn this trade in a classroom. You learn it in a van on the A1 with your dad explaining why one car is worth the journey and the other is a headache waiting to happen. It is the same apprenticeship Paul had with Derek, just one generation along.

What Charlie Actually Does at Mathewsons

Charlie is not a director of Mathewsons Classic Cars Ltd. The company’s filed officers are his father Paul, his uncle Dave, and previously his mother Angela, who stepped down in March 2025. Charlie is at the earlier stage: collections, handling vehicles, learning the business from the ground rather than the boardroom. That is exactly how it should work. Nobody in this family has been handed a title before they earned it, and the show has been careful not to pretend otherwise. Watching someone genuinely learn on screen is far more interesting than watching someone already expert.

How Old Is Charlie Mathewson?

Here is an honest answer to a question a lot of people search: Charlie’s exact age has not been made public. He is not a company director, so there is no Companies House record giving a birth month, and neither he nor the family has stated it. Plenty of sites will offer a number anyway. We would rather tell you that we do not know than invent something. What we can say from the programme is that he is a young man, clearly at the start of his working life, and being brought on carefully rather than pushed forward.

Why the Third Generation Matters

Derek has spent more than fifty years in the motor trade and now openly says he no longer goes looking for cars, because the best ones turn up by accident. That is a man easing off, not a man retiring in a hurry. But the question hangs over every episode: what happens next? Charlie is a large part of the answer. British factual television is full of personalities who cannot be replaced, whether that is Jeremy Clarkson or Sarah Beeny. Mathewsons has quietly solved that problem by simply raising the next lot.

What Derek Started in 1970

To understand why Charlie’s first solo run mattered, you have to know what he is inheriting. His grandfather Derek began trading in 1970 from a site in Bedfordshire, driving to Enfield twice a week to buy stock at trade sales. The showroom sold ordinary cars and vans, but the corner was always full of the vintage machinery Derek actually loved. The family moved to North Yorkshire in 1988, opened a motor museum in Thornton-le-Dale, and only started holding classic car auctions in 2011. Our profile of Derek Mathewson’s net worth and career covers that journey in full.

Learning a Trade That Cannot Be Taught

There is no qualification for this. No exam tells you that a particular Triumph is worth saving and the identical-looking one beside it is not. Derek learned it by doing, made expensive mistakes, and once walked away from classic cars altogether after being badly let down by a misdescribed Healey. Paul learned it standing next to Derek. Now Charlie is learning it standing next to Paul. That is three generations of knowledge passed on the only way it can be, which is slowly and in person. Watching that happen on television is genuinely unusual.

A Show Built on Real People

British factual television has quietly discovered that audiences prefer real people to presenters. Bangers & Cash is a strong example, with Series 7 averaging 744,000 viewers an episode and UKTV ordering 46 further episodes in one go, the biggest single order the network had ever placed for one programme. The same appetite explains the success of Jeremy Clarkson on a farm or Sarah Beeny renovating a house. Charlie has grown up inside that format, which is a strange thing, but he handles it without any obvious performance.

Final Thoughts

Charlie Mathewson is not the loudest person on Bangers & Cash, and at this stage he is not meant to be. He is the grandson learning a trade that started with a young man selling cars in Bedfordshire in 1970, and every solo collection is another step. That is what makes his story worth following. Keep an eye on him over the next few series, because you are watching a family business hand itself over in real time, one rusty Austin van at a time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Charlie Mathewson on Bangers and Cash?

Charlie is Derek Mathewson’s grandson and Paul Mathewson’s son. He works at the family firm and represents the third generation on the show.

How old is Charlie Mathewson?

His age has not been publicly confirmed. He is not a company director, so no official record lists his date of birth.

Is Charlie Mathewson Paul Mathewson’s son?

Yes. Charlie is the son of auctioneer Paul Mathewson and Angela Mathewson. He also has a sister called Kate, who is not on the show.

What did Charlie do in series 13?

Charlie made his first solo collection, picking up an Austin van from the North York Moors, and joined Paul on a trip to Northampton.

Does Charlie Mathewson run the business?

Not yet. Company filings list Paul and Dave Mathewson as directors. Charlie is learning the trade through collections and hands-on work.

Who is Jack Mathewson?

Jack is another of Derek’s grandsons who works in the business and appears on the show alongside Charlie. Sources differ on their exact relationship, so we do not state it.

Disclaimer: This article is for general information. Details are taken from broadcaster series information, Companies House filings and the Mathewsons company website. Where a fact is not publicly confirmed, we say so rather than estimate. We do not publish private details about family members who are not part of the programme.