VANS may be synonymous with carrying parcels or builders’ tools – but now they are linked with deliveries of a different kind.

Limousine builder Binz claims an increasing number of funeral directors are choosing vans to transport coffins to funerals. The company supplies custom-built vehicles for use by funeral directors and mortuaries and in the last year has bought nine Mercedes-Benz Vito vans for conversion.

It is currently building two for clients and has placed an order with the manufacturer for another.

Each is fitted with a ‘rise and fall’ hydraulic deck that allows a coffin to be loaded into the van directly from a trolley.

Binz sales and marketing director Kevin Smith said: ‘Funeral directors are increasingly looking to invest in vehicles which are larger and have a higher payload than the traditional hearse. And they are doing so because the size and weight of the deceased people they have to carry is rising.

‘This is an inevitable result of the growing number of obesity cases in Britain.’