Twenty-three year old Paul Sidall was a friend of teenager Karen Oldfield and competition for her affections with Martin Cheveski. His gran, Elsie Tanner had put pressure on Martin to go to Birmingham for Christmas with his parents and Karen was put out by this. She'd bought him a record by The Jam for his present and she gave it to Paul instead. The two of them were in the Rovers to meet up with other friends prior to going out but Martin returned and walked in on them as they were leaving. Martin wasn't pleased to see Karen with another lad and Paul started to get hot under the collar with him. When Paul went for Martin, he was easily pushed back onto a table and Fred Gee intervened, throwing Paul, Karen and her friends out and telling Martin that girls like her weren't worth the bother.