Three wheels on my wagon…
When Georges Bouton introduced his half horsepower motorised tricycle to the crowds gathered at the Horseless Carriage Exhibition in Tunbridge Wells in October 1895, a great many of the forward thinking and enthusiastic ‘automobilists’ present probably anticipated rapid progress to be made with the introduction of vehicles to Great Britain. Even with the passing of the Emancipation Act the following year, there were, however, several years to wait before motorised vehicles were a common sight in the country.
The picture in France and Belgium was rather different. There is no doubt that the absence of the British speed restriction and the bureaucracy around motoring through towns gave the French motoring enthusiasts a significant advantage. It is equally true that the vibrancy of the cycling movement in France and Belgium had created the perfect environment for the newly-launched motor tricycles to quickly gather momentum.
It is not an exaggeration to say that
