Auditing The Tolls

Shaldon Bridge 1922
Enlarge photo |  More about this photo

Plymouthian Edward (Ed) Vosper's second wife, now Mrs Doreen Skidmore was interviewed in March 2009 and recalled that my grandfather (Ed Vosper) used to work for the Bayly Estate in Plymouth. He worked in the Estate Office retiring in August 1934 after 38 years service with the family. Doreen says that Ed would go twice a year to Shaldon Bridge Tollhouse, not to collect the tolls, but on a sort of audit to check that the tolls were correctly charged and to ensure no-one was missed out. Ed Vosper kept a record of all traffic and then compared the numbers with the toll collector's takings at the end of the day.
(Comment: one wonders if in fact he viewed the toll gate from the main road above the tollhouse close to where the photographer was standing in the photo).  

This story was confirmed when the daughter of tollhouse keeper Mr Tucker was interviewed in 1981 by reporter Monica Wyatt of the Teignmouth Post & Gazette. That interview revealed that the job of toll collector was a very sought-after position. The bridge owners, Shaldon Bridge Company, preferred applicants to have been in the forces as such men were considered honest and reliable. Despite this, the company checked to see all was in order by sending someone to secretly count all passing traffic and then to visit the toll collector and to compare these figures with the amount of money collected.  

Comment: Perhaps others can add to or confirm this snippet of Shaldon / Teignmouth history.