Funeral firm failings ‘unacceptable’

A funeral director who wrote the deceased’s name in marker pen on a damaged coffin has been advised that it was “not acceptable.”

The incident was one example of poor practice revealed in a report by Scotland’s first inspector of funeral directors.

Natalie Mckail was appointed in 2017 in the wake of concerns about the cremation of babies and infants.

Her first annual report revealed that a funeral director was reported after “presenting a damaged coffin for cremation with a marker pen name plate”.

In another case the wrong body was put in a coffin due to an identity mix-up after the bodies of two men, both named William Paterson, were kept in a hospital mortuary.

Ms Mckail said the family were “deeply distressed”.

Meanwhile, the inspector is investigating after a funeral director presented a coffin for cremation that was “leaking bodily fluids”.