A COUPLE who found love thanks to a broken phone line have tied the knot - with an unusual choice of wedding car.

Annie Davidson

A COUPLE who found love thanks to a broken phone line have tied the knot - with an unusual choice of wedding car.

Rob and Ruth Cherry, from Colchester, were ferried from their wedding to the reception in a new BT Openreach van.

Mrs Cherry chose the vehicle because the couple met when her phone line had broken and her husband, then a BT engineer, was sent to repair it.

She also arranged Friday's wedding pretending it was for her 40th birthday and proposed to her husband via a tannoy message during Colchester's final game at its Layer Road ground against Stoke City.

When the surprised Mr Cherry agreed he discovered the nuptials were already booked for just a month later and all he had to do was buy a suit and book a two-night break for the happy couple.

Mr and Mrs Cherry, of Maldon Road, married at the town's register office and had their reception at the Garrison officers' club off Southway.

Mr Cherry, now a sales executive for BT Openreach, said: “I proposed a couple of times before but Ruth was happy as we were and I didn't think she was interested in marriage.

“When I heard 'Ruth wants to know if Rob will marry her' over the PA system I said how bizarre as that is our names. But then Ruth opened the programme and showed me where it was written in there too. I said yes straight away.”

Mrs Cherry, whose maiden name was Galal, was also sure about her choice of wedding car - the BT van - because of how she and her husband met.

Mr Cherry said he had been fixing his wife's phone line 13 years ago when she lived in Berechurch Hall Road which should have taken five minutes - but an hour later they were still chatting.

“I asked her out for a drink and the rest is history,” he said.

He said his wedding day had been a dream come true and added: “It was an amazing day, she had the most beautiful dress and I just bawled my eyes out during the ceremony.”

Mr Cherry, 40, said he was very grateful to his managers at BT for arranging the van which was brand new and came with champagne and covered in ribbons.

The couple have two children together, Rebekah, 11 and Elliott, seven, as well as Ashley, 17, and Emma, 16, from Mrs Cherry's previous relationship and Mr Cherry's son Ross, 15.