Ian's mourners take bus

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

LAST RIDE: Bus driver Ian Bates' casket is carried to a hearse at Saturday's funeral.

Relevant offers

Hamilton Go Bus driver Ian Bates and his green bus made one last trip together as family and friends paid tribute to a man who loved his job and workmates.

Mr Bates, 69, died on Wednesday after battling cancer and was farewelled at a service on Saturday.

In a nod to Mr Bates' love of his job, mourners boarded bus 166 for the trip behind the hearse to Newstead Cemetery.

Joy Bates said her husband drove bus 166 on the Fitzroy route until November last year.

"Like most bus drivers who drive the same bus, Ian didn't like other people using it," she said. "He was a bit fussy about the bus and would worry others might scratch it."

A plan to transport Mr Bates' coffin on the bus did not go ahead because carrying the casket through the doors would have been difficult.

"It was great Ian's friends and family were able to travel on the bus and make the trip out to the cemetery with him," Mrs Bates said. "Many of them visited him daily ... I'm sure he would have approved."

- © Fairfax NZ News