Thomas "Tom" Hughes was a lad drinking in the Rovers, with his mate Rick, who upset Izzy Armstrong when he ignored her requests to let him past in her wheelchair and when she knocked into him by accident, shocked the regulars by calling her a “chippy cripple”. Gary Windass, along with his army mate Quinny, rushed to her defence and it looked as though a fight was about to break out when Liz McDonald threw the two newcomers out. Credited as "Tom", the character's full name was given in dialogue in Episode 7425 (16th September 2010).