Barbara (2008 character)

Barbara and husband Neville were passengers in John Stape's taxi in November 2008. The couple had paid for the Street Cars driver to drop them off at home before taking them on to a restaurant where they were going to celebrate their wedding anniversary. However, John explained he was running late for an appointment and wouldn't have time to wait for them at their house. Disappointed with their customer service thus far, Neville suggested that John should get onto contol and order another driver for them as all their arrangements had been planned.

As John spoke to Eileen Grimshaw who was operating the switch, she passed a message on from John's girlfriend Fiz Brown who'd discovered he had left his keys and mobile phone at home and she was going off to his grandmother's house to feed the cat. (In reality, this property was where John was holding Rosie Webster hostage in the attic).

Panicking when he realised Fiz would probably uncover the fact that Rosie was being held against her will at the house, he informed his passengers that because of the heavy build-up of traffic, he would take them straight to the restaurant and knew of a short-cut. John proceeded to drive hell for leather, scaring the wits out of Neville and Barbara - who had commented that they were now miles away from the restaurant and ordered John to stop the car. However, they were somewhat placated when John told them he had to call at his gran's house on the way.

The couple were left stranded outside the property as John went into the house and confessed to Fiz about kidnapping Rosie (who had by this time escaped). The couple were witness to the ensuing mayhem outside - with Neville thoughtfully offering the visibly petrified Rosie his jacket. Fiz phoned for the police and an ambulance to arrive.

Neville and Barbara gave their witness statements to one of the police officers who arrived on the scene and commented that they had just been away for a nice, peaceful fortnight in Maderia, and after all the drama they'd been through, were tempted to get on the first plane back.

List of appearances
2008
 * Mon 3rd Nov (1)
 * Mon 3rd Nov (2)
 * Wed 5th Nov