Note 57 — Chapter VIII

The coaches were not allowed to be run upon the line without considerable opposition. We find Edward Pease writing to Joseph Sandars, of Liverpool, on the 18th of June, 1827: "Our railway coach proprietors have individually received notices of a process in the Exchequer for various fines, to the amount of £150, in penalties of £20 each, for neglecting to have the plates, with the numbers of their licenses, on the coach doors, agreeably to the provision of the Act 95 George IV. In looking into the nature of this proceeding and its consequences, it is clear, if the court shall confirm it by conviction, that we are undone as to the conveyance of passengers." Mr. Pease incidentally mentions the names of the several coach proprietors at the time—"Pickersgill and Co., Richard Scott, and Martha Hewson." The proceeding was eventually defeated, it being decided that the penalties only applied to coaches traveling on common or turnpike roads.