Brother’s ashes in a plastic bag
A MOURNING sister was left in tears after she picked up her brother’s ashes and found that they were in a plastic bag.
Veronica Walkden, 75, from Whitwick, says she was shocked when she collected her brother’s ashes from a funeral director in Coalville.
She expected them to be in an urn but instead they were in a recyclable bag with his name on.
Loughborough Crematorium, where her brother’s funeral was held and who supplied the ashes to the funeral directors, told the Echo that this method is now common practice for crematoriums and that the packaging is “environmentally friendly” and “recyclable.”
Ms Walkden’s brother, Aubrey Page, passed away on September 23, and his funeral was held at Loughborough Crematorium on October 9.
She then went to Lee Coopers Funeral Directors to pick up his ashes on Monday, October 20, and was shocked when she got them home.
She said: “When I got them home, I was sickened and very upset, I could not stop crying, he was 78-years-old and had ended his life in a thick plastic bag sealed with his name stuck on it inside a cardboard box.”
The crematorium said that the plastic bag and cardboard box were intended as temporary con- tainers for the funeral director to transport the ashes from the crematorium to their premises, and that the funeral director would then usually transfer the ashes to the urn or casket the family had purchased from them.
The crematorium said that it has been using the cardboard boxes since the summer.
The Echo contacted Lee Cooper Funeral Directors but it did not wish to comment.
Veronica told the Echo that her sister had organised the funeral and that she had not been told that the ashes would be coming in a plastic bag, or that it would cost extra for them to be handed back in an urn or casket.
According to Veronica the whole funeral cost more than £4,000, and that the service at the crematorium alone was £1,035.
She said: “Where does all of that money go? You end up paying so much and then you just end up in a plastic bag.
“It is such an undignified end for my brother. I can’t believe that he was just put in a plastic bag, I might as well have just fed him to the birds.”
Upset by her discovery, Veronica said that she then contacted Loughborough Crematorium, where it was explained to her that it was now its policy to deliver ashes in the environmentally friendly cardboard box and plastic bag and she said that the person she spoke to “did not show one ounce of sympathy.”
Not happy with the response from the crematorium, Veronica decided to take her complaint to the next level.
She said: “I then contacted the head office which is in Sutton Coldfield, apparently they run crematoriums all over England, the woman there had the same no caring attitude, the people were like robots, by this time I was very upset I had to put the phone down on this robot, who kept telling me it’s their policy to put them in a plastic bag.
“They phoned me back and said they would provide me with a wooden box, I had to pick it up from Lee Cooper’s who did the funeral and that I had to take the ashes in the plastic bag so the plastic bag could be put in the box. I refused to do it. I told them I was not carrying my brother round the town in a plastic bag.”
She is now hoping to either spread her brother’s ashes across some of his favourite places, or made into a piece of special glass jewellery that she hopes can be passed on through the family.
Veronica said: “We will finally be able to put him to rest and he will be able to have the dignified end that he deserved from the start.”
A spokesperson at Loughborough Crematorium told the Echo: “Crematorium staff do not meet families when the funeral arrangements are made as this is the role of a funeral director. We would always advise that the entire family’s expectations are managed by their funeral director, especially if the relative collecting the ashes is not present when the funeral arrangements are being made.
“The cardboard boxes have been introduced by many crematoria in response to demand from the public and funeral directors for a more environmentally friendly container than a plastic urn. The cardboard boxes are significantly more expensive than the plastic urns and therefore this is definitely not a cost-cutting exercise.
“Our staff always act with professionalism, care and sympathy to try and help every family. We spoke with this lady at length to understand her concerns and offered a number of alternative ashes containers, including the urns traditionally used at Loughborough Crematorium, but all were refused.”