When his mum's fridge freezer 'died' multiple times a Maidstone funeral director did what he does best.

Rafael Learmonth covered the defunct item in a purple pall, placed it in his hearse and accompanied it on its final journey.

But the jokey drive from Angels Funerals in Heath Road, Coxheath, to Argos in Chatham High Street this morning had a serious message.

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Mr Learmonth's 79-year-old mother had bought an Indesit fridge freezer from the store in 2015 and had witnessed it fail multiple times, losing three loads of frozen food in the process.

In fact the item her son returned at 11am was the fourth fridge freezer the company had sent Maria-Luisa Learmonth, who lives in Walderslade.

The fridge freezer 'funeral' took place at Argos in Chatham

Mr Learmonth said: "The first fridge freezer was faulty when she bought it but instead of giving her a new one they sent an engineer out to fix it. Six weeks later it had the same fault."

Mrs Learmonth was eventually given another fridge freezer but this one was also faulty, as were the next two, her son said.

He continued: "She was given the last one in August last year. When that one failed as well I told them to give mum her money back and come and collect the fridge freezer but I was told they didn't have the right lorry or something.

"The woman I was speaking to said something like 'you wouldn't deliver it in your hearse would you?'"

Not one to turn down a challenge, Mr Learmonth proved that he definitely would deliver the fridge freezer in his hearse.

He claims he told the company about his plans before carrying them out but doesn't think they believed him.

"We did everything we would for a funeral," he said. "The staff were trying to work out what was happening. The customers thought it was hilarious. We went to the pub afterwards and one guy bought me a pint.

"Mum doesn't actually know I've done it yet, she just wanted it out of her living room.

"Now it's back in the store they should give her a refund. I might even send them an invoice for the delivery charge."

An Argos spokesman said: “We understand that this is a difficult time for Mrs Learmonth and have a full refund waiting at the Chatham store for her.”