iS A TROLLEYBUS A STAGE COACH?
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ARULING of considerable interest to trolleybus undertakings was given by the Doncaster West Riding Bench, on Tuesday. A summons was brought by the police under the Railway Passengers Act, 1842, against the conductor of a trolleybus owned by the Mexborough and Swinton Traction Co., for allowing overcrowding.
The defence did not dispute the general facts, but argued that the whole point of the case was whether, under the Act of 1842, a trolleybus was a stage coach. The defence denied this, and contended that the onus to prove -to the contrary was on the prosecution. Several Acts were quoted, including the Town Police Clauses Act, which defined an omnibus as including a stage coach, and the Mexborough and Swinton Traction Company's private Act, which stated that its trolleybuses should not be deemed omnibuses within the meaning of the Town Police Clauses Act.
The Bench upheld the prosecution, but stated that, as the case was the first, it would dismiss it, on payment of costs.