PC Barnes was a motorcycle police officer who arrived on the scene when summoned in September 1965 following the sudden collapse of the front rooms of 7 Coronation Street. His superior, Sergeant Bowden had arrived before him and sarcastically commented that he’d taken his time to get there. Barnes explained that his radio was on the blink. He was instructed to get ropes and warning lamps from the police station to prevent the public entering the house. Later on, he was one of a party that shifted the rubble out of the house when it was feared that Lucille Hewitt might be underneath it but the missing teenager turned up safe and sound, having been watching television at a friend’s house.