the spot. At an inquest the coroner exonerated the company and recorded a verdict of accidental death. On 30 August 1880 a Midland Railway dray horse ran away down Low Pavement and collided with a tramcar. The dray horse charged between the tramcar and the tramcar horses and the tramcar was thrown off the line. The driver and single passenger who were standing on the front of the tram had a lucky escape. A recurring problem was the inability of the tramcars to avoid obstructions. On 28 July 1883 a hansom cab driver, Mark Thompson, was summoned to court for obstructing the progress of a tramcar. He was sitting in his hansom on Albert Street waiting for a fare when the tramcar approached. He refused to move over to allow the tramcar to pass and a large crowd gathered which completely blocked the street. He was fined 10s. Josiah Dann, a tramcar conductor, was summoned on 2 August 1883 for having carried 28 passengers when the car was only licensed for 24. The officer noticed the tramcar in Carrington Street drawn by one horse and counted the passengers. When the car reached the ascent at the Canal Bridge, the horse had to stop and some of the passengers got out. The conductor pleaded guilty but in mitigation said that the passengers were all going to the Nottinghamshire v. Gloucestershire cricket match at Trent Bridge. He was fined 20s. Sometimes the intense competition between omnibus and tramcar company got out of hand as this report from the Nottingham Journal of 9 August 1883 reveals: William Kirk, driver of the steam tram car on the Derby-road, was summoned for using abusive and threatening language to Israel Jordan, driver of the Nottingham and Bulwell omnibus. Mr. W.H. Stevenson appeared for the complainant and Mr. Barlow for the defendant. Mr. Stevenson said this was another instance in which the Tramway Company endeavoured to monopolise all the streets in the town. There was a case before the Bench the other week in which the company summoned one of this complainant's drivers for being on the wrong side of the road. The Bench dismissed the case. The next day Mr. Jordan was driving along Derby-road when the defendant used abusive language to him, and said "You beat us yesterday, but I'll be even with you before the week is out. The first time I meet you