Bride rolls up to wedding in armoured tank

Hayley says when the tank arrived at her home, "we could hear it before we saw it"

A bride staved off any pre-marital nerves by arriving at her wedding... in an armoured personnel carrier.

Hayley Adcock, from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, was offered the steel army tank for her big day by a friend who owned the machine.

Formerly an infantry transporter, there was enough room in the tank for the bride, her bridesmaids, maid of honour - and one of the best men.

Ms Adcock has no connection to the military but said: “It was a bit of fun, why not?"

Hayley waved to passers-by from the entrance hatch of the tank

She said she and fiancé Nigel were offered the use of the tank - an FV432 Mark 1 - by friend Gary Cook, who had owned the camouflaged vehicle for a couple of years.

"It was very unexpected, but we agreed straight away," Ms Adcock said.

She said that on the day of their wedding it arrived complete with wedding ribbons, adding: "We heard it before we saw it."

Hayley travelled to her wedding in the tank with her bridesmaids, maid of honour and one of the best men

Ms Adcock said her friend provided a fan to keep her cool on the journey to the venue

The bridal party took a 10-minute drive around the back streets of Burnham-on-Crouch en route to the wedding at The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.

"Lots of people were out waving with drinks in their hands and cameras, so yeah it was good fun," Ms Adcock told the BBC.

She added that she did occasionally stand and wave to their friends but mostly sat down "because you feel you’re going very fast, it was very bumpy".

"We were just all giggling and laughing," Hayley added.

Hayley and Nigel Adcock were married in Burnham-on-Crouch on Friday, 19 July

Mr Cook said he bought the armoured personnel carrier after driving them during his time in the military.

He told the BBC how it needed a lot of renovation work, but the wedding date gave him a target to aim for.

Ms Adcock made the interior "more bridal" with six seat covers sewn out of pillow cases, and Mr Cook stapling white sheets to the walls.

He said the offer of using the vehicle for the wedding "started off as a bit of a joke", but "the reaction was fantastic".