Martin Platt was taken into the Weatherfield General in December 2003 after he crashed his car in December 2003. Craig Harris had caused the accident when he tampered with the brakes of his car in a desperate attempt to split up Martin and his sister Katy whose relationship had pulled the family in two. Craig was ridden with guilt and confessed his crime to his father who gave chase in their car when Martin drove off, trying to get him to stop and pull over. When the brakes failed, Martin crashed into a wall. With petrol leaking from the vehicle, Tommy pulled Martin to safety before the car exploded and he was taken to hospital unconscious.
Tommy made Craig pull himself together and they concocted a story that they had seen petrol leaking as Martin pulled away in his car from his flat in Victoria Street and they both statements to PC West to this effect. However Katy, knowing of Tommy's venomous hatred of Martin, suspected that he had attempted to murder her boyfriend. She reported this to the police and DS Ripley called Tommy in for further questioning.
Tommy stuck to his story and he was released shortly afterwards pending further enquiries. Ripley also questioned workmates Kevin Webster and Tyrone Dobbs who were forced to admit that Tommy had a violent temper. The pressure got to Craig and when Tommy accepted the blame to acquit his son of any suspicion, Craig confessed his guilt to Martin. He, in turn, told the police that he had been aware that his brakes were faulty but hadn't had time to get them fixed. The police dropped the matter and the Harrises were forced into a grudging acceptance of Martin and Katy's relationship.