Tommy Deakin Tommy Deakin was an Irish - born rag and bone man whose patch included Coronation Street , which he traded on from the Second World War until the early 1970s . His business was collecting and selling scrap , using a cart pulled by his donkey Dolores . He was known for his ragamuffin appearance and cheeky manner . Tommy ' s regular haunt was The Flying Horse pub . In 1969 , he played on the Flying Horse football team against the group from the Rovers , surviving an attempt by the Rovers regulars to get him drunk - Tommy turned out to be an even keener drinker than Stan Ogden . The following year , when the Rovers crowd were boycotting their own pub and drinking at The Flying Horse instead , Tommy organised a darts match and annoyed Albert Tatlock by trying to put Betty Turpin on The Flying Horse team . When the Rovers crowd returned to their pub , Tommy dropped by and tried to get a free drink from landlady Annie Walker by sending her a Valentine ' s card , but it failed as she considered him uncouth , his revelation shattering her illusion of a charming mystery admirer . Tommy usually operated alone and was territorial over his patch . When he caught gypsies Reuben Ward and John Smith collecting junk in the Street , Tommy started a row but Ray Langton saved him from being thumped by Reuben . In 1972 , Tommy and his brother - in - law Dirty Dick , a fellow rag - and - bone man , opened the viaduct stables for Dolores , to whom they both laid claim . They decided to settle the matter by holding a contest in the Street designed to let Dolores decide which owner she favoured , but Dolores went to sleep instead . Tommy then opted to give the donkey to Dick , but caused a stir by pretending to the residents that Dick had decided to sell Dolores to the slaughterhouse - Tommy tricked Dick ( who couldn ' t read ) into signing a letter to that effect , and collected the money from Minnie Caldwell ' s ' Save Dolores ' fund which was intended for him to buy back the donkey . After finding out that Tommy had been spreading lies about him , Dick publicly vindicated himself in the Rovers Return , and the residents used the money to pay for a stove in the stables . The joint venture lasted only two months as in November of that year the pair were served with notice to quit the stable . Apparently a pet lover , Tommy also had a greyhound called Duke . He did however sometimes want time on his own and in September 1968 he tricked Emily Nugent into agreeing to keep Dolores while he went on holiday in Majorca , telling Emily that he was going to hospital . In May 1974 , Tommy , Dolores , and his sister Kathleen ' s boy Michael Ryan were forced to vacate the house for two weeks while Tommy ' s wife re - decorated . Michael found them lodgings at 13 Coronation Street after advertising them as " businessmen " in the newspaper . Stan Ogden wasn ' t happy to discover to whom he ' d let the spare room , but warmed to the idea when they let him accompany them on a Whit Monday trip to the races in a chauffeur - driven Rolls Royce . The outing ended with the Rolls being pulled over and Stan ( who had taken over the wheel after the chauffeur Sandy Pirie joined in the drinking ) breathalysed . Charged with speeding , DUI and driving with an out - of - date licence , Stan blamed his lodgers for leading him astray and told them to leave . As they ' d paid for two weeks upfront , Tommy got compensation from Stan , neglecting to mention that they were planning to leave anyway .