PC Yates was called out in March 2010 when Peter Barlow tried to get his son Simon back from his grandfather George Wilson. With Peter going through one of his alcoholic stages, George thought he wasn't fit to look after Simon and he and his wife Eve inside their house. Peter tried to force his way into the property and when that failed, called the police. However Peter's incandescent rage (added to the fact that the Officer knew George socially) led to him arresting Peter for breach of the peace. He was released after a night in the cells.
In May 2010, the officer visited Underworld with his colleague and broke the bad news to Carla Connor that her husband Tony Gordon had escaped from Highfield Prison. They advised her to lock her doors and try and stay indoors, being with someone at all times. They gave the same advice to Roy Cropper who pointed out that it was difficult to keep doors and windows locked when running a cafe! Later on, they called at 7 Coronation Street when it became apparent that Tony had been a visitor there with an unsuspecting Sunita Alahan and the next day he tried to reassure Carla that the police had a lot of officers on the manhunt and involved with door-to-door enquiries and also went to Manchester Airport when they had a (false) tip-off that Tony had been seen there.
In September 2010, Gary Windass and his friend Quinny got involved in an argument with two lads in the Rovers who insulted Izzy Armstrong. The lads were thrown out by Liz McDonald but lay in wait for the two soldiers leaving the pub. Inevitably, they came off worse and one of the two, Thomas Hughes, was taken to Weatherfield General with concussion. The officer and his colleague came to the street asking questions and were directed to No.6 by Liz. Gary was taken away for questioning where he denied knowledge of any incident and was eventually let go but with instructions to come back the next day.
In December 2010, the officer and his female colleague were called to 4 Coronation Street when Kevin Webster refused to leave the family home after his affair with the recently-deceased Molly Dobbs had come to light. Rosie, disgusted with her father's actions, rang the police on Sally's orders after Kevin had pushed his way into the house. After he had begged that he had nowhere to go, and seeing Sophie's tears, distraught at her parents' split, Sally allowed him to stay the night. The officer left, telling Sally to call them if they had any more problems.
Yates later questioned Janice Battersby when her flat was burgled in January 2011. He questioned Lloyd Mullaney about the incident as he was the Street Cars driver who drove her to the airport on the evening in question. His other passengers had also been burgled in the same area. In reality, Billy Matheson had committed the robberies for Chris Gray who was trying to get Lloyd into trouble. Yates later arrived to search the cab firm but found nothing. The police later arrested Billy for the robberies.
In January 2012 he investigated when an attempt was made to break into the Rosamund Street Medical Centre. He was alerted to the matter by key holder Deirdre Barlow but found nothing. The culprit was Becky McDonald trying to find Tracy Barlow's medical records to prove that her miscarriage wasn't due to any action on Becky's part. Yates came to the conclusion that it was kids messing about.
After finding Lesley Kershaw unconscious on the kitchen floor at No.11 in May 2012, homeowner Eileen Grimshaw raised the alarm and called the emergency services. The paramedics quickly pronounced Lesley dead and radioed the police due to the circumstances. The officer arrived and informed Eileen that CSI and CID would be imminently arriving and it would be helpful if she were able to leave the house to let them carry out their investigation.
In January 2013 he was on cell duty at Weatherfield Police Station when Tyrone Dobbs was incarcerated on a (false) allegation of being violent towards Kirsty Soames. Although Tyrone was banging on the door, demanding to be let out, Yates was sympathetic, promising he would find out what he could for him as to what was going on with the enquiry.
The officer was present at the scene of a road traffic accident during August of the same year involving Nick Tilsley and David Platt - their vehicle having slewed across the road and into the path of an oncoming lorry. The incident occurred following the revelation that Nick slept with David's wife Kylie on Christmas Day, 2012. Returning back to Weatherfield in the bistro's van, an angry David grabbed the steering wheel off Nick, causing the vehicle to spin out of control. David was checked over at the scene whilst an unconscious Nick was rushed to hospital - having to be resuscitated on the journey.
- The character was credited as "Police Officer" until his January 2011 appearances when he was credited as "PC Yates". In subsequent appearances he was again credited as "Police Officer" until January 2013 when he was credited as "PC Yates" once more.
List of appearances[]
2010
2011
2012
2013