Harry Potts Harold " Harry " Potts was a corrupt councillor and school caretaker who made an enemy of Alf Roberts and Derek Wilton . In October 1992 , Derek Wilton became the new deputy caretaker at Weatherfield Comprehensive , under Harry . Headmistress Sue Jeffers gave Derek the job instead of Harry ' s nephew , who had been Harry ' s choice . Harry deliberately gave Derek a hard time by demeaning him and making him do most of the work while he skived , using council meetings as an excuse . He also caused Derek to get into trouble with teacher Ken Barlow by instructing him to throw out wallcharts when clearing a classroom and then denying doing so , letting Derek take the blame for the loss of a month ' s work . Derek reported Harry ' s bullying behaviour to Sue Jeffers ( as Harry was the union rep as well as his boss ) , and was ordered to keep a log of Harry ' s misconduct as Mrs . Jeffers shared his dislike of Harry and wanted an excuse to sack him . Derek endured Harry ' s slave driver routine until the following April , when he delivered the damning dossier to Mrs . Jeffers , only to discover that Harry had just got a job as caretaker at Granston Technical College - with a glowing reference from Mrs . Jeffers . At the Town Hall , Harry was never far from a scandal . In January 1993 , the residents of Coronation Street protested against a new one - way system in Oakhill which resulted in diverted traffic running through Coronation Street and causing congestion . Sally Webster and Percy Sugden were interviewed by the " Gazette " but Harry ( getting involved purely for self - promotion purposes ) interrupted the interview and was the one pictured in the newspaper article , much to Sally and Percy ' s ire . The council eventually dropped the one - way system , but only after Lisa Duckworth was hit by a car and lost her life . Harry was not altogether popular on the council . When Harry decided to get on the Social Services Committee , he sought fellow councillor Alf Roberts ' s backing . Alf didn ' t like Harry but agreed to back him so that he would leave him alone . This backfired as Harry then counted Alf as an ally and they occasionally drank together in the Rovers afterwards . There , he became acquainted with landlady Bet Gilroy . He received first class treatment by Bet by giving her " inside information " about a council plan to widen Rosamund Street and demolish the Rovers . As he drip - fed information Bet ' s way and promised to fight her corner , Bet gave him drinks on the house . Later , Bet found out that he had also told Stella Rigby of the White Swan that the council were going to demolish her pub . Investigating , the pair discovered that he was conning all the local landladies . They got revenge by inviting him to Reg Holdsworth ' s engagement party and forcing him to buy drinks all round in exchange for their silence . Harry came out of the woodwork again in June 1995 when Alf , who had just completed a term as Mayor of Weatherfield , came under suspicion of embezzling money from the Mayor ' s charity fund . Alf maintained his innocence , although his superior at the Town Hall , Jeremy Pilkington , couldn ' t see how anyone else could have done it as Alf signed the cheques for the charity fund and thus would have known where the money was going ( although Alf had admitted that he often signed the cheques without reading them ) . Harry met up with Alf to tell him he had his support , although Alf looked far from happy when Harry remarked that " only in a moment of madness " would he do such a thing . Alf ' s innocence was established when Brian Bowes , the formal Mayoral limousine driver , told Audrey Roberts that Harry was having an affair with Connie Holroyd , who managed finances at the Town Hall and prepared the cheques for the Mayor , and that Harry used Arnold Hall as a non de plume when placing bets . When told about this , Alf recognised the name Arnold Hall as one of the fund ' s payees and realised that Harry was getting Connie to make up cheques for him . He then brought Brian before Jeremy Pilkington to repeat the story , but Pilkington didn ' t believe the incredible tale until Connie and Harry were brought in . On seeing Connie being questioned , Harry called her a daft cow and refused to say anything until he ' d seen his solicitor . Alf was vindicated , and four months later Harry was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to nine months in prison .