claudia returns to weatherfield in july 2018 amidst a feud between audrey and her stylist, maria connor (samia longchambon). seizing a chance to annoy audrey, claudia offers maria the opportunity to run her own salon under claudia's chain, however she demanded that maria provide the money to pay for the new salon immediately. after failing to gain investment from carla connor (alison king), maria is invested in by rita, who can see how spiteful audrey is being about the situation. at the same time, claudia becomes close friends with ken barlow (william roache), and supports him when he learns that his pregnant daughter-in-law, sinead tinker (katie mcglynn), has been diagnosed with cervical cancer. eventually, when both claudia and audrey are invited to an awards ceremony for the north west salons awards, their feud reaches breaking point when claudia nominates audrey for the lifetime achievement award, hoping to show rival salons that audrey should be slowing down and eventually drop out of hairdressing forever. however, when presented with a bouquet of flowers, audrey throws the flowers at claudia, who dramatically knocks all the glasses over on the table. later, when she sees how maria and audrey are starting to become close again, claudia reminds maria that she works for her now, and not to be as friendly with audrey anymore.