King of the road Eddie Bell loved his lorry so much, he’s going in it to his funeral.

The 40-year-old gentle giant, from Allerton, who died after an heroic fight against cancer, will travel to Scholemoor in the back of an HGV belonging to the company he worked for over the past decade.

The wagon driver worked all through his chemotherapy treatment and up until five weeks before his death.

His bosses at Low Moor-based Freightroute said Mr Bell enjoyed his job so much that the poignant last ride would be a fitting tribute from them. Family and friends at the funeral on Monday will also be asked to post promises of ‘doing something good’ in Mr Bell’s name in a HGV-shaped box that will be cremated with him.

Mr Bell’s wife Angie, 46, said her written promise would be to still take him to all the wonderful places they had wanted to visit together. She will be taking some of his ashes with her to Jamaica in August, where they had planned to renew their wedding vows.

She said: “I’m going to take him with me. It just wouldn’t be the same without him. He was my soul-mate and my life.

“I have never known a stronger man who battled such a terrible disease with so much courage. When the doctors told him he was terminally ill, he took the news as if it was just a cold. He said “upwards and onwards, I’m not going yet – I haven’t spent enough time with you.”

Mr Bell’s death last month came as a shock after tests had shown the cancer had cleared from his lymph nodes and bowel.

“It was still there in his stomach, but otherwise the results were remarkable. We knew he was still terminally ill, but we had hoped for a few more years with each other,” said Mrs Bell.

“At his biggest he was 20 stone, but he was a gentle giant with a gigantic sense of humour.”

Bradford-born Mr Bell, who spent his 40th birthday at the city’s Marie Curie Hospice, died there peacefully on February 25. His family say he is now reunited with the four-year-old daughter Donna-Marie he doted on, who also died from cancer.

As well as his wife, Mr Bell leaves a step-son James, three brothers and two sisters.