Richard Thomas, known to all as "Dirty Dick", was a Welsh rag-and-bone man who helped Ena Sharples move her belongings into the Community Centre flat using his cart in June 1971. Ena promised to let Dick have anything she was throwing away in exchange for his help but the sentimental pensioner decided to keep everything. Dick wasn't happy about this, but stopped short of accusing Ena of getting his help under false pretences, telling her instead that she'd missed her calling and that she should have been a lawyer.
The following year, Dick and his brother-in-law Tommy Deakin opened the Viaduct stable for their donkey, Dolores, much to the residents' horror. As they both laid claim to Dolores, they decided to settle the matter by holding a contest in the Street designed to let Dolores decide which owner she favoured, but the competition turned into a farce when Dolores went to sleep instead. Tommy then opted to give the donkey to Dick, but caused a stir by pretending to the residents that Dick had decided to sell Dolores to the slaughterhouse - the residents believed him as Tommy had tricked Dick, who couldn't read, into signing a letter transferring ownership of the donkey. After finding out that Tommy had been spreading lies about him, Dick publicly vindicated himself in the Rovers Return, and the residents used the money they'd collected to save Dolores to pay for a stove in the stables.
Dick and Tommy's joint venture lasted only two months as in November of that year the pair were served with notice to quit the stable.