A FORTNIGHT AGO, we featured Peter Sotheran’s picture of a 1930s police three-wheeler, GK 6873, which he thought had been taken in Redcar and so would have shown members of the North Riding of Yorkshire Constabulary. He wondered whether it was a Morgan F4.

However, many readers have spent time researching this vehicle – time and indeed perseverance because 6873 is the product number of a Play People Playmobile Police Car so to find anything about “GK 6873 and police” you have to scroll through every child’s police toy car in the world that is for sale.

Among those who have been in touch are Mick Faulkner and Alistair Brown, and everyone accepts that the car is a BSA 9hp, which was owned by the Metropolitan Police.

BSA stands for Birmingham Small Arms Company, and as well as building firearms, the company was renowned for its motorbikes. The three wheeler was its attempt to move into the car market.

A police three-wheeler was such a novelty that GK 6873 features in newsreel footage that was shot in 1930.

The most definitive answer that the vehicle was not a Morgan came from Eric Londesbrough in Dalton-on-Tees.

“I own a Morgan 1934 F4,” he says. “The F4 stands for family four, which is not perhaps a good title as the rear seats can only carry two small children or a well folded up adult.

“HFS Morgan built his first three-wheeler in 1909, and by 1911 he was almost overwhelmed by orders. The cars were built in Malvern. The two-seater three-wheelers, which had a variety of motorcycle engines, were highly successful in racing events and were sold with the name Morgan Runabout.”

Eric, who started his driving career more than 60 years ago in a Bond Minicar three-wheeler, bought his F4 about 20 years ago when he retired.