WATCH: Family honour Derbyshire dad’s dumper-truck funeral final request

Dave Newton, 81, from Whitwell, started joking that he wanted to have his coffin carried by the vehicle when he started pre-planning his funeral around 12-years-ago.

When he suddenly died on March 20 this year, his family decided it was 'only fitting' for his coffin to be carried to and from the service in the dumper truck. 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: "Dave had been deciding how he wanted his funeral to be and chose an undertakers that has a building business attached to the company.

"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 them.

"He mentioned it more than one occasion and he would mention it to the undertakers too. It was only fitting that we made sure it happened."

Phil said that Dave, who was an ex-miner, was always the 'life and soul of any party' so would have wanted the dumper truck to be used for his funeral.

He said: "He was such a genuine man and very loyal - he passed away the day before his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife Ann. They were due to be in the church, where he had the funeral, to get their vows renewed and we would have been having a party. He was the life and soul of any party - he would always be the first time drunk at any family Christmas or bbq.

"He just enjoyed life and had a few illnesses in the past but he had overcome them all. It was just a case of living his life the best he possibly could and he did that."

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. He also posted a photo from the service on social media platform X and says the reaction has been 'ballistic.'

Phil, who lives in Chesterfield, 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. I put it on Twitter and it's gone ballistic - there's loads of comments from football fans from across the country. Everyone has said it's a fantastic thing to do, so it's had a really good reception on Twitter,” he added.