This page may not be universally popular. But I think that our client families have a right to know a little about deceased removal vehicles, and how their loved ones are transported from the place of death, to our private facilities. I think everyone has seen the ubiquitous “Private Ambulance” If not, then I’ll explain a little potted history.

When I was a lad

When I was a lad, and started working in the family funeral business almost 40 years ago, our deceased removal vehicle was the hearse. They all have an under deck area, where a removal stretcher or even a coffin, can be concealed from view. For many years we, and every other funeral director, would come out with the hearse and collect the deceased in this under deck area.

Then a clever person decided it would be much better to use an estate car, with blacked out windows, to remove the deceased. For many years I did it this way too. I even remember one winters night, being stopped by a police car and questioned about what we had been doing and where we were going. I will leave you to imagine how that went.

Then it became fashionable (yes we do have fashions in funerals) to use a van. At first they were unmarked plain white vans. These would move around the town without attracting any attention. But then someone said it did not seem very respectful, and suddenly they all became Private Ambulances. They are of course very private and there is nothing to associate them with the ambulance you want to see if ever you have a need for one!

We have been using them for many years.  One day the staff told me Its no good Michael, as soon as the ambulance sets off in that direction, we get a call from another family to go the other way. At the same time! You can guess what happened next.

Modern deceased removal vehicles

They nagged and nagged and we now have two Private Ambulances

And they always come along like buses. In pairs!

The staff are very happy with these new removal vehicles, and from my point of view its easy to keep in touch with them as these vehicles all have inbuilt bluetooth for their telephones.

One final point. These days it really is unacceptable to use a people carrier, or an estate car for this part of our work, but there are plenty still doing it this way. Its just not possible to maintain a decent level of hygienic standards in a vehicle with fabric and carpets.