Father almost cremated by the wrong family af ter blunder
‘My heart was in my mouth’
A FATHER was almost cremated in a service with the wrong family after a distressing funeral directors’ blunder. Relatives of William Paterson were left distraught following the incident, for which a health board and funeral company have now apologised.
The 56-year-old was taken and his body sealed in preparation for cremation, before the family’s own undertaker intervened. An investigation is now under way.
Mr Paterson was due to be picked up from the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow for burial by David Robb Funeral Directors. But when Mr Robb attended he found that the gentleman’s body had already been taken away by Co-op Funeralcare.
He said: ‘The date of death didn’t match anyone, but there was another William Paterson there. The worker then found that the William Paterson that I was looking for had already been uplifted by Glasgow Co-op.’
For Mr Robb it was then a race against time to try to find the correct body and return him to the family.
He added: ‘When I arrived at the Co-op I saw that there was a William Paterson in a coffin, sealed and ready to go for cremation. As soon as I opened the casket I knew it was him, he is the double of his son.’
Mr Paterson’s daughter Clare, 33, was later called into the funeral director’s office.
She recalled: ‘My heart was in my mouth. I just broke down and I feared it was too late. My initial reaction was thinking I am not going to get to have a funeral for my dad – I was absolutely heartbroken.’
Miss Paterson, a taxi driver and student nurse, said: ‘If it wasn’t for David who knows what would have happened. He’s a star.’
Internal investigations have taken place within the hospital and Co-op Funeralcare. The latter is being probed by the National Association of Funeral Directors. A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: ‘It was a genuine error.’
A Co-op spokesman said: ‘We can only apologise to the Paterson family for this.’