Sandra Stubbs

 was cleaner at the Rovers from 1988 to 1989. Mother of Jason Stubbs, Sandra escaped from wife-beater Ronnie when she started at the Rovers.

Biography
In May 1988, Sandra Stubbs walked out on her husband Ronnie, taking their son Jason with her. Sandra had finally had enough after years of Ronnie, a sailor, hitting her. She made it as difficult as possible for Ronnie to track her down, moving to a new area in Weatherfield and moving Jason into another school. She was still sporting a black eye when Alec Gilroy interviewed her for the position of cleaner at the Rovers Return. Alec was put off by the black eye but Bet insisted that he didn't hold that against her, so she was taken on.

Sandra's new start was immediately fraught with ups and downs. She was late on her first day at the Rovers as she had to see Jason settled into his new school, but her work was good enough to impress Mike Baldwin who took her on as a cleaner at his flat at 46b, St. Mary's Place. Jason also got a job, as a paperboy at the Kabin. He replaced Wayne Pickles, who guarded his round and beat Jason up for "stealing" his job. When Sandra found out about this, she went to have a word with Mrs Pickles and punched the woman when Mrs Pickles attacked her. Wayne gave Jason no more trouble but Sandra hated herself for using violence.

Ronnie heard on the grapevine that Sandra had a job at the Rovers and managed to track her and Jason down. Sandra knew he was due to return to his ship in a few days so pulled Jason out of school, hoping to avoid Ronnie until he left, but then decided to face him to get it over with. There Ronnie tried to be reasonable, swearing he was a changed man but he'd said the same thing before and it hadn't changed him, so Sandra refused to listen. Ronnie then followed Sandra to her flat and, in private, was more aggressive with her, hitting her in front of Jason. He ran off when Jason left to get help. Sandra was very badly bruised in the face and decided for the first time to lodge an official complaint about Ronnie. She got an injunction from the courts and Ronnie was told to keep his distance from them both.

Sandra had better time with Ronnie out of the picture. She put on her glad rags for a night out with Gloria Todd - her first proper night out in years. She was chatted up by Tony Walker, a friend of Mike's, but she was upset when the next day in the Rovers he didn't recognise her in her normal clothes.

In November, she met Pete Shaw in the supermarket and they arranged a date. She was in love right away and they arranged subsequent dates. She started worrying that Pete was going off her but in actual fact he was having an affair with Gloria Todd, which Gloria confessed to when she and Sandra were together in the Rovers back room. Sandra called Gloria a smug tart and poured a pint over her. Alec sacked her but Gloria, who felt terrible about the whole affair, quit so she'd be reinstated. Sandra agreed to return but haggled a rise out of Alec.

In February 1989, Ken Barlow warned Sandra that Jason and his mates had been underage drinking. Later that day, the police called at her flat enquiring about Jason's drinking. Sandra was warned she was working too much and leaving Jason on his own. Sandra was worried that Jason was going to be taken off her but she was told Jason would stay with her if she quit her job at the Rovers. Sandra resigned and moved with Jason to her mother's until she found somewhere more permanent.

Other information

 * Sandra also worked as a barmaid at the Rovers. Both her cleaning jobs at the Rovers and Mike Baldwin's flat were previously held by Hilda Ogden.

Quotes
"Oh it's not a drink I'm looking for love, it's a job." (First line, to Betty Turpin) --- "Yeah well I do, I do know. Cos it was your shop, cos they said it was. So thanks a lot. I mean really, thanks a lot for what you've done to me." (Final line, to Alf Roberts)