WATCH: Fleet of Royal Mail vans give fitting send off to beloved Derbyshire postman

Colleagues drove 26 mail vans on Lee Woolley’s old postal route around Ilkeston before his funeral in Bramcote, Notts. The 48-year-old, who was due to become a father to a baby girl this December, died of cancer on July 2.

His pals followed his hearse around his route in Ilkeston, one final time, and then posties wearing their distinctive red uniforms lined up in formation outside the Bramcote Crematorium to form a guard of honour for Lee's coffin.

Lee lost a three-year battle to cancer after initially being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2021 before it spread to his liver. He leaves behind his wife Venessa, 40, and their unborn baby Emma who is due in December after being conceived through IVF.

Lee's sister Sarah Leanne Hearson, 44, said he would have been "gobsmacked" at the turn out and said it was like "royalty".

She said: “It was incredible, I haven't seen anything like it. I arrived at my brother's house and his colleagues were at the front of his house.

“It was just a line of red all up the street, I couldn't believe it. I knew there were going to be quite a few there as he was a very well liked person and well respected.

“Even though I was there, I watched the drone footage back and it was just as amazing. Lee was a very humble person, he would’ve been gobsmacked. It did bring me some comfort.

“Lee was working up until a month before he died. He loved his job. For years he did the postman job, he started doing rounds again shortly before he passed.”

Lee's wife Vanessa paid tribute to her late husband, saying: "He was a loving and attentive husband who would do anything for you. Lee had a beautiful, kind and generous nature.

Ilkeston delivery officer manager Lisa Pynegar, who arranged the special tribute, said: “Lee was such a loved guy and we wanted to show our respects in the biggest way we could.”