Martin Cheveski Martin Cheveski was the second son of Ivan and Linda Cheveski and grandson of Elsie Tanner . He lived with Elsie at No . 11 for just over six months in 1980 , but returned to his parents after having his heart broken by Karen Oldfield . Biography . Martin Cheveski was born in Canada in 1964 . His parents Ivan and Linda , and older brother Paul , had emigrated there in 1961 but the family returned to England in 1966 , specifically Birmingham , where Martin went to school . After leaving school at sixteen , Martin struggled to find a job and got into rows with Ivan . After a fall - out , Martin decided to stay with his maternal gran Elsie Tanner in Weatherfield . He made his own way there , arriving unannounced at Elsie ' s door on 16th June 1980 ( although technically as Elsie wasn ' t at home , Martin climbed over the back wall and was grabbed by Len Fairclough , who thought he was breaking in ) . Elsie agreed to Martin living there , with Linda ' s approval . As it transpired , Martin had made the right decision , at least on the employment front . He was good with his hands , and Len , who owned the local Builder ' s Yard , was a close friend of Elsie ' s and readily agreed to take Martin on as an apprentice . This upset the yard ' s labourer Eddie Yeats as there wasn ' t enough work at the yard for the three of them , and unsurprisingly it was Eddie who faced the chop , having unsuccessfully tried to put Martin off the job . In August , Martin was repairing the water boiler at Baldwin ' s Casuals when he took a shine to the new trainee Karen Oldfield . Karen returned his affections and they went to a dance together . They soon fell for each other but a complication then arose in the form of Karen ' s protective father , who barred Karen from seeing Martin when Martin got Karen drunk on Elsie ' s gin while entertaining her at No . 11 in Elsie ' s absence . Martin arranged to meet Karen despite the ban but to his shock it was Mr . Oldfield who showed up , to warn him off Karen personally . Karen was still willing to see Martin , but as Elsie wouldn ' t let them use No . 11 , Martin used the yard as a meeting place , with them seeing each other there on nights . The relationship continued . In October , the pair got their ears pierced but Martin took his out when his ear went septic . Later , they were caught together at the yard by the police , resulting in Oldfield finding out that they were still together . With Oldfield threatening Martin with court action , Martin decided to return to Birmingham , deciding that if he couldn ' t see Karen then there was nothing for him in Weatherfield . This surprised Oldfield , who agreed to let him see Karen - but warned him about getting her drunk again . At Christmas , Martin faced a complication as Karen wanted him to celebrate the day with her instead of his family , and threatened to leave him otherwise . Martin left for Birmingham but came back later , deciding to be with Karen after all , but interrupted a date between Karen and Paul Sidall , and shoved Paul across a table at the Rovers . Martin realised he ' d gone too far and risked pushing her closer to Paul , but after getting an idea from Elsie , bought an engagement ring and proposed to Karen , hoping that a big gesture would show his commitment to her and thus sort out their problems . Karen initially accepted but after consideration returned the ring , telling him they were too young . She also finished with him . Even though it was New Year ' s Eve , Martin immediately packed his things and returned to Birmingham , telling Elsie he was swearing off girls . Quotes . " Trying to get me nose trapped . " ( First line ) " I just don ' t like it here anymore Gran , it stinks . " ( Final line )