Scrapyard worker Karl Grossmann made the trip to his final resting place on the back of a scrap lorry.

The 74-year-old worked for 30 years at the former Hebborns Scrapyard in Becket Street, Oxford.

His family thought it would be fitting for his coffin to be taken to the funeral on the back of the kind of lorry he spent years loading.

Daughter-in-law Hazel Grossmann said: "He hated a fuss and joked that when he died we should just throw his body on a rubbish dump. "We were trying to arrange for a conventional hearse but were then offered the use of the lorry. We thought it would be different and something he would have appreciated. He would have seen the funny side of it."

The lorry took Mr Grossmann, who died of a heart attack at his home in Blay Close, Blackbird Leys, from Reeves & Pain funeral directors in Abingdon Road, Oxford, to the service at St Andrew's Church, Sandford- on-Thames. Mrs Grossmann added: "He was very popular and that has also been reflected in the many cards.

"It was not just Hebborns where he was well-known. He was very into stock-car racing and motorbike racing and was a very keen supporter of local football."

Mr Grossmann, a former prisoner of war, leaves a wife, Lyla, four children - Karl, Peter, Ursula and Paul - eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Story date: Wednesday 20 October

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