NEVILLE Buckett, who has died aged 78, was a 'tough and challenging' magistrate, school governor, part-time fireman and trade unionist who stood up to Margaret Thatcher when she visited British Leyland.

Mr Buckett worked at Morris Motors for more than 30 years and continued as a magistrate until his 70th birthday.

His family said he was 'passionate, argumentative and charming and a fighter for what he believed in'.

In his later years he was heavily involved in the community in Horspath

Neville Buckett was on November 2, 1938, in Napier Road, Cowley, where he lived in his early childhood with his mother Eva, his grandparents and four siblings.

He recalled his earliest memories being of the house full of family members and evacuees from London and not knowing where they might sleep one day to the next.

In 1949 his mother was allocated a council house in Barton, where he would live for the remainder of his childhood with his two older brothers, George and Leslie John, and two younger sisters, Patricia and Elisabeth.

After leaving school and spending a short time in Scotland on national service he returned home and worked as a TV aerial installer, fitting them to chimneys – a job which would come to an end abruptly when he fell off a roof and broke his arm.

Then he took a job at Salter's Steamers, where he would spend the summers in Windsor as a boat skipper and the winters in Oxford painting the boats.

From the age of 18 to 22 he enjoyed life on the river with his good friend Robin Moody.

In 1960, at his sister Patricia's wedding, his life would change forever when he met his future wife Patricia Curtis.

A year later they would marry in St Giles' Church in Horspath and after he began working at Morris Motors the couple managed to get a mortgage to buy the Napier Road house Mr Buckett was born in.

They had three children, Alison, Simon and Samantha, and he worked hard to provide for them.

During his time as shop steward for the Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) Union, the Cowley man, who his family said loved a 'heated' discussion, went up against Margaret Thatcher when she visited what was then British Leyland.

After an initial exchange of words, the Prime Minister who was meant to be sat next to someone else at lunch asked to sit next to "that outspoken young man" who had confronted her earlier.

Outside of work he gave a huge amount back to the community through various voluntary roles, including as a part-time fireman at the station in Hollow Way.

He was also heavily involved with his children's schools, sitting on parents' associations and becoming a governor at both Temple Cowley Middle School and Cheney School.

But it was in 1977 that he took up his most fulfilling role - as a Justice of the Peace.

He served as a magistrate in Oxford for the next 31 years, retiring from the Bench on his 70th birthday to much praise and admiration from his fellow magistrates.

The family moved to Horspath village in 1987 and Mr Buckett took an early retirement in 1996 but continued as a magistrate and enjoyed spending time in his garden.

Along with his wife Patricia, he loved travelling to Dorset and France and occasionally visited Spain.

He was widowed in 2012 and, after coming to terms with the loss of his lifelong partner, began swimming regularly, visiting friends and furthered his work with the Horspath Neighbourhood Watch scheme he had helped set up in 1997.

He was also an avid reader and enjoyed autobiographies and books on the First and Second World Wars.

He died on February 21 and is survived by three children, Alison, Simon and Samantha, seven grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

His funeral took place on March 20 at St Giles Church in Horspath.