Watch: Undertaker takes coffin to funeral service in a dumper truck

This video shows an undertaker transporting a coffin to the funeral service of Dave Newton, 81 - in a dumper truck! The clip shows how the construction vehicle was adorned with flowers for the procession - which had onlookers “shaking their heads in disbelief and laughing”. The ex-miner had joked for around 12 years that when he died they should 'just stick him in a dumper truck'. So when he suddenly passed away on March 20 this year, his family decided it was “only fitting”. His son-in-law Phil Cooper, 56, says it started off as a joke but then they dad-of-three started “mentioning it on more than one occasion.”

Phil said: "He had some work on his bungalow so he had the dumper truck round before. When he was deciding what cars to have at the funeral, he just said they could stick him in a dumper truck and it stuck from then.” Most people didn't see the truck before the funeral happened on April 10, but said everyone was “laughing” at the truck after the service.

Phil, of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, said: "Most people didn't see it before, because it was raining at the start of the service and people had gone into the church. When everyone came out, we loaded the coffin onto the truck and everybody couldn't believe it and were shaking their heads in disbelief and laughing. It really changed the mood because it was a really emotional service and it was like a release for people.”