A convoy of cabbies accompanied a much-loved taxi driver to his final resting place.

The striking sight was in honour of Ian Wilson, 64 – with his own taxi taking pride of place in the procession. The popular driver died last week and, as a tribute, his colleagues formed a cortege in his honour, with his own taxi taking pride of place in the procession.

Mr Wilson’s funeral took place at Distington Hall Crematorium on Friday and his coffin was brought in to the strains of 1980s truckers’ classic Convoy .

The packed chapel heard how Mr Wilson, 64, of Salterbeck, was popular with his customers for his kindness.

Messages of con

dolence have inundated Workington firm Josie’s Taxis, for which he worked for more than 10 years.

Celebrant Margaret Burnell told mourners that Mr Wilson had a passion for lorries and collected Eddie Stobart model trucks.

But following a car crash, he was unable to pursue his trucking dream and decided to become a taxi driver instead.

Ms Burnell said: “He loved this job, he worked six days a week without ever being ill until the last couple of weeks of his life.

“He always wore a cap, that was his trademark. His colleagues described him as a thoughtful man.

“Once when driving a friend’s taxi, he got fed up of the CDs falling all over the place and bought him a CD case.”

His colleagues also remembered him for his dry sense of humour and his banter.


Josie’s closed for the morning to allow drivers to attend the ceremony. Mr Wilson’s family also travelled to the service by taxi in his honour.

Mr Wilson also worked for Tony’s Taxis in the past and ran his own business for a couple of years.

Ms Burnell read The Clock Of Life Is Wound But Once by Robert H Smith and Farewell My Friends by Gitanjali Ghei, among other poems.

Mr Wilson was a widower, having lost his wife Dot in 2012.

Ms Burnell said: “When he lost his wife of 37 years, life was never the same for him as he missed her terribly.”

Mr Wilson leaves daughters Corrina, 40, and Donna, 37, son Ian, 36, and grandchildren William, 14, Dot, 10, Sergei, four, and Iyla, six months.

Ms Burnell said Mr Wilson loved looking after his grandchildren and was a caring father.

He enjoyed weekends in Blackpool with the family and a game of darts or dominoes at Harrington’s Royal British Legion Club, where people gathered after the service.

Mr Wilson’s daughter Donna described him as her hero, a caring, helpful, polite and respected man.

His son Ian said: “My dad is my dad and also my friend, he was a worker, a grafter.

“If I can be half the dad you were to me to Iyla, I would be happy.”

The ceremony ended with You’ll Never Walk Alone .