Red tape is such a sad reminder of my Lynn

GRIEVING John Stapleton has encountered excruciating red tape he says his late wife Lynn Faulds Wood would have relished taking an axe to.

Watchdog presenter Lynn died two weeks ago and left her financial affairs in perfect order.

But John, 74, said he “almost had a meltdown” as private companies he had to alert have demanded endless paperwork – including a copy of the death certificate and, in one instance, their marriage certificate.

He said: “At this time in particular, there has never been greater need to push for a better service for the bereaved. Registering a death with a company should be so much easier.”

As a consumer champion, this was a “battle Lynn would have loved to fight”, he added.

“As [my son] Nick remarked, it’s almost as if the system is making it as difficult as possible at one of the worst times in your life.

“It’s so draining when you are emotionally exhausted.”

And he asked why private companies could not use the Government’s Tell Us Once service, where once a death is registered, all its departments are notified.

Lynn, who presented Watchdog from 1985 to 1993, alongside her husband for seven of those years, had survived cancer and was battling a rare immune system disorder when she suffered a stroke, aged 72. Together with Nick and his wife Lise, they said their goodbyes in Charing Cross Hospital, London.

But then came the jungle of administrative red tape.

He said: “I’ve been making endless calls, talking to people who sometimes offer no sympathy, having to explain over and again the reason why I’m ringing.

“The sentence always leaves a lump in your throat.”

He said it back memories of dealing with his father Frank’s estate 14 years ago – and nothing has changed.

And he despaired at the automated phone messages before you get through to a human where “the assistance can be almost callous”.

He repeatedly had to visit banks “clutching the death certificate, which is a dreadful thing to hold”.

He said: “Presumably there is a reason for all this – the danger of fraud and so on – but some companies just seem hung up on red tape.”

He added just one call was enough for some firms such as to BT and Sky “but that is still one more call that someone who is grieving really should not need to make.

“With some coordination, the application of technology and some willingness, bereaved families could be saved from making millions of calls every year.”

‘I’ve made endless calls’