MOURNERS at a funeral ended up in tears of laughter when the hearse broke down and the coffin had to be taken to the crematorium in the back of a car.
About 50 mourners gathered to give former businessman Bill Fairs a good send off after he died from cancer, aged 69.
Mr Fairs' cremation was arranged by his son-in-law Mike Robson. But it became a funeral farce when the hearse broke down as it started to move away from the family home in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.
The driver, from Duckworth's Funeral Directors, tried to get the engine started with a set of jump leads. When that did not solve the problem, the pall-bearers tried to push start the hearse, but to no avail.
Mourners found the bizarre situation amusing, and the hilarity continued when the coffin was switched to the back of a Peugeot estate car in the middle of the street.
Mike, 42, said: "I think Bill would have seen the funny side. The funniest part was when we asked someone what was wrong with the hearse, he said 'It's completely dead, mate'."
A spokesman for South Shields- firm Duckworth's said they had apologised to the family.
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