Family and friends pay respects to teenager knocked down by bus

Nov 10 2007 by Caroline Innes, Liverpool Daily Post

TEENAGE friends of a Liverpool schoolboy who was knocked down by a bus united in grief yesterday to pay their last respects to him.

More than 100 of Daniel Baxendale’s friends kept vigil at his funeral at All Souls church in Allerton, directly opposite the scene of the tragic accident on Mather Avenue. All wearing black T-shirts bearing his photograph and the words “RIP DIDS – gone but not forgotten”, the youngsters stood in the rain consoling each other as they waited for his coffin to arrive.

Many of them witnessed the death of the 15-year-old from Garston who, they said, was always making people laugh.

Daniel’s hearse was bedecked with flowers, with special family tributes in white and red bouquets spelling out his two nicknames, Scouser and DIDS.

As his mother was comforted by family, four of Daniel’s friends carried his coffin into church to the backdrop of Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars.

Yards from the church, scores of bouquets lay at the scene of last week’s accident where the youngster, who dreamt one day of owning his own restaurant, fell under the single-decker 86 bus.

Among the scores of tributes left by family and friends lay a photograph of Daniel, who had a brother and a sister, and a bouquet of flowers left by his mother.

The card attached read: “In Loving memory of our dear son.

“DIDS you were my heart, my soul, my life. I am broken hearted without you. See you on the other side, Love Mum xx.”