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Funeral procession impeded by noisy delivery driver 26/3/11
Mourners were horrified when a Tesco van driver disrupted a funeral procession on Lewis.
With music blaring from the van stereo, the delivery driver ignored a request from an undertaker and steered behind the waiting hearse, stopping just in front of the coffin which was being carried by family and friends.
The large cortege had just left Callanish Free Church in the direction of Breasclete
on the west coast of Lewis, following a packed service for a 65-
The supermarket employee’s actions disrupted the traditional Hebridean funeral walk which is normally conducted in silence with a double chain of male relatives, neighbours, and colleagues of the dead woman lining up to take a “lift” of the casket in a final act of respect.
Under island practice a funeral is always given the right of way to pass by peacefully and unimpeded.
The Tesco van incident is though to be the first of its kind locally.
The oncoming vehicle from the retailer’s Stornoway store, which had apparently been delivering groceries in the district, manoeuvred around the hearse in the middle of the road and halted at the head of the coffin, partially hampering its path, say disgusted relatives.
Donald Maciver a close relative of the deceased said: “This was an exceptionally distressing day for all the family which was exacerbated by this individual’s actions.
“The van driver was spoken to by the undertaker but he ignored the request to pull over and wait for the procession to pass.
“Instead, the van driver overtook the hearse and drove up to the front of the procession and stopped in the road.
“He didn’t even have the decency to pull off the road, or switch off his engine, or to switch off the radio.
“The procession then had to deviate to try to manoeuvre around the large delivery van while having to listen to the radio blaring in the passing.
“Those in the procession commented to me about this shameful lack of respect shown by the delivery van driver.
“I would hope that this van driver’s actions were not an accurate reflection on our society today, and would hope that people would have the decency to show their respect when coming upon a funeral procession by stopping, pulling over to clear a path for the funeral procession, and switching off their engines and radios. Is that too much to ask?
A Tesco spokesman said: “We will fully investigate the incident. Our Stornoway store manager is going to visit Mr Maciver this afternoon.”