Neil was a man who Sally Webster went out with on a disastrous date in August 2013 after meeting him on an internet chat room. He turned out to be a bore from hell, obsessed with his job in insurance and coming out with gems such as there being "nothing like a catastrophic event to really get my juices flowing."
Sally tried to find some common ground for other topics of conversation but gave up. When Neil took her home to 4 Coronation Street after their meal out, Neil asked to be invited in but Sally gave him a curt brush-off. Neil told her it was the third time in a month that this had happened to him and put the blame on the website. A listening Tim Metcalfe took great satisfaction in overhearing the conversation and when Neil had departed inveigled his way in with a relieved Sally with a four-pack of lager.