GRAN Ada Nelson got a hearse class ticket to her funeral - carried in the rear of a COACH.
The unusual send-off was the 63-year-old cancer victim's idea.
Family, friends and even pet dog Shadow rode above her in the 49-seater as it took the wicker coffin to a crematorium.
Carl Marlow, of funeral firm Go As You Please, helped gran-of-six Ada, plan the day.
He said: "I knew that Ada didn't want cars.
"She said she wanted to travel with the family. I think people were pleasantly surprised."
Her widower Andy, 66, a retired engineer from Wallsend, Tyne And Wear, said his wife of 43-years was "a plain Geordie lass".
He added: "Everybody who was there - they won't forget Ada's funeral. Quite a lot of them afterwards, including her two best friends, accepted that that is the way to go.
"It was a celebration of her life, not her death. It was perfectly normal and that is what she wanted.
"She didn't want any of this doom and gloom."
The couple had two sons - Andrew, 41, who lives in New Zealand, and Mark, 39, in Germany.
