Lance was supposed to give his daughter away but died before the ceremony
A taxi company boss who flew out to Spain to give his daughter away at her wedding died after suffering a suspected heart attack in Marbella. Lance Ridden’s family pulled together to make sure the ceremony for daughter Hannah and her husband, Jack, went ahead.
Her brothers walked her down the aisle, and wife, Sue, read Lance’s carefully prepared speech. Sue said: “After it happened, I just wanted to fly home. Hannah and Jack said they would call it off if I did. We had mixed feelings, but ultimately, it’s what Lance would have wanted.
“I was only going to stay for the blessing, but I ended up staying until the end. It was brilliant. I’m so pleased it went ahead.”
Hannah and husband Jack Bates held a smaller register office wedding at Danson House, south east London a few weeks before the ceremony in Spain, where dad-of-five Lance was able to fulfil his role of father-of-the-bride.
Lance, 66, and co-owner Mark Robinson built up a large South East taxi business over 20 years, taking over six competitor firms
Lance’s work with taxis began when his parents Joyce and John started running cars from their spare room in 1967. Lance washed the cabs to earn pocket money, He took a welder’s apprenticeship at a factory and got lucrative contracts in the Middle East and the north east of England.
He married his first wife, Amanda, and they had daughter, Hannah, 32.
He went on to work as a council bailiff before buying cab firm Vokes when the owner retired. Lance married Sue in 2005. Sue, who brought with her sons Tim, Joshua and Hadley to the marriage, described her life with Lance as “eventful and fun.”
She said: “Lance was very sociable. There were many parties here and it was often open house.”
The couple loved to travel abroad, taking holidays in the Caribbean, Spain and Turkey. Lance enjoyed watersports, watching football, going out on his boat, and he used to play squash.
Sue said: ”We are a blended family and all get on very well, but if anything, this has brought us closer.”