Tony Carr's forklift carries his coffin. PHOTO: NORTHERN ECHO

A son has kept his pledge to carry his father's coffin on the forklift he bought in 1980.

Local timber merchant Tony Carr died on Boxing Day, aged 88.

While mourners lined the streets of Wheatley Hill to pay their respects, they saw his son, Jeremy, driving his father's coffin on one of the firm's forklifts.

"He bought the truck in 1980," the son told the local press. "About two or three years ago, I said jokingly to him 'when you go I'm going to take you to your funeral in it'."

And that's exactly what he did.