Reuben Ward was in a group of travelling gypsies who encamped on slum clearance ground near to Coronation Street for two weeks in October 1970, along with John Smith and his family. Reuben got off to a bad start with the denizens of the street when he and Smith went collecting rag-and-bone and crossed paths with Tommy Deakin who angrily told the pair that they were on a patch that he had covered since the Second World War. A fight almost broke out between Reuben and Tommy and Ray Langton interceded. Later in the Rovers, Tommy provoked the two men with a series of slurs and threats and another fight almost broke out when Reuben went for Tommy. Much to Annie Walker's anger, Billy threw Tommy out, rather than the gypsies.