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FAST FORWARD: Eddie and Maud Stewart pictured years after the speeding ticket' in an American roadster in August 1925

HURRYING drivers who rant about speed cameras being there simply to persecute motorists and deprive them of their hard-earned cash should take heart that speeding fines are not a new thing.

The long arm of the law was penalising motorists for travelling too rapidly 100 years ago, as this summons will attest.

Sent in by London-based motoring writer Tom Stewart, it was issued to his grandfather, Ferndown nurseryman Edward "Eddie" Stewart, who had been riding a "motor bicycle" on February 26, 1908.

It accuses Mr Stewart - a grandson of John Stewart, founder of D Stewart & Sons (now Stewart's Gardenlands of Holt and Somerford) - of speeding on Wimborne Road, Ringwood.

No speed is specified, but it was probably a lot slower than traffic now zips along the busy A31 to Wimborne (speed limit 70mph, though many seem to drive faster) and, according to a motoring enthusiast colleague, he is unlikely to have had a speedometer fitted on a machine of that era.

So how did the police officer know how fast Mr Stewart was travelling? one wonders.

Suffice to say the allegation is that Mr Stewart "on the 21st day of February 1908 at the parish of Ringwood in the said County of Southampton in a certain public highway there called Wimborne Road, did unlawfully drive a certain motor car to wit a motor bicycle at a speed which was dangerous to the public having regard to all the circumstances of the case contrary to the form of the Statute in such case made and provided".

And it continues: "You are therefore summoned to appear before the Court of Summary Jurisdiction sitting in The Town Hall in Ringwood in the said County of Southampton onWednesday, the 4th day of March 1908, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, to answer the said information".

CAUGHT! For speeding in Ringwood in 1908

Tom Stewart, who also sent in a photograph of his grandfather and grandmother Maud posed in their Willys Knight roadster some time in 1925, said there is no family record of what fine had been paid back in 1908.

"What the outcome was I don't know, I'm afraid," he said.

And he added: "Sadly, the corner of the document which featured a hot wax seal was torn off by my grandmother at some point in the distant past. No idea why."

Is this Ringwood's first-ever speeding case?

The Echo first published reports of speeding in Bournemouth in September 1900, just 24 days after the paper's launch.

Five people faced charges of furious driving after police with stopwatches caught them breaking the 14mph limit in Old Christchurch Road. Perhaps it would be a good idea to reinstate that speed limit there today.

l As well as being a noted horticulturalist, William Edward "Eddie" Stewart had been a keen sportsman, competing as racing cyclist, motorcyclist (a member of the Auto-Cycle Union) and footballer playing for Bournemouth at Dean Park and Wimborne.

He died in 1944 and was interred in the family grave at Christchurch Priory.

10:12am Tuesday 8th April 2008

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