Ashes left behind after collapse of funeral firm Bailiffs called in to company that offered unusual send-offs
AGRIEVING relative called by bailiffs to the premises of a funeral directors that collapsed discovered her loved one’s ashes stuffed inside a Jiffy bag.
The bailiffs are now attempting to reunite families with remains left when Colour My Funeral, which had premises in Solihull and Shirley, went under.
To date, Birmingham Process Servers (BPS) has handed over six urns. It has three more sets of ashes and has received enquiries from six more concerned families.
The company has also taken possession of a mound of documents and paperwork, including passports.
Colour My Funeral specialised in unusual send-offs before its collapse.
West Midlands Police is now investigating claims bailiffs were assaulted as they entered Colour My Funeral’s outlet in Shirley.
BPS’s director, Daniel Gibbin, claimed staff had chairs and filing cabinets thrown at them.
“Obviously the threat of violence is there on a daily basis,” he said. “But it rarely comes to that. We can talk people round.”
Mr Gibbin described the scene that greeted bailiffs who entered the two offices as “pretty horrific”.
BPS is now financing the hunt for owners of the ashes.
“We’ve had some happy endings,” he said. “One woman broke down after we called her to the Shirley premises. The ashes she wanted were in a Jiffy bag. We have a fair amount of stuff. We have photos, death certificates and passports.
“The morality is somewhat concerning. If a funeral director is facing rack and ruin, you would expect it to do the decent thing.”
West Heath couple Christopher and Emily Wyatt’s daughter Alania was stillborn last November. Mrs Wyatt said the funeral itself at Robin Hood Cemetery and Crematorium, ran smoothly but it was only afterwards that things went wrong, the 21-year-old claims.
“We paid Colour My Funeral £700 to have Alania’s ashes turned into jewellery,” said Mrs Wyatt.
“We wanted her ashes as footprints incorporated in two lockets.
“Six months on and we were still asking for the lockets. I was constantly instant messaging. We were told the company that did them had gone bust. After eight months, we said we’d had enough. We wanted the ashes and money back.
“Colour My Funeral insisted we had only paid £200, and that, along with the ashes, was all we got back. We never received an invoice.”
Mrs Wyatt added: “The whole experience was devastating, it broke my heart. That was the only thing we could do for our daughter – and it wasn’t done.”
Colour My Funeral once offered a cortege of stretched VW Beetles, a motorcycle sidecar adapted for coffins and a lift to the church for the deceased in a vintage lorry.
One family paid £27,000 for a farewell that included two Rolls Royce hearses and eight “Roller” limos.
Caskets were equally outrageous, ranging from leopard-print to football-themed.
For ten years the company led the field in bespoke, bizarre send-offs without complaint.
Now Action Fraud and Trading Standards have been contacted, and the once vibrant parlours are empty.
Companies House lists Adam Blake as director.
Mr Blake is the fiancé of Aimee Hall, former manager of Colour My Funeral’s Solihull branch and daugh- ter of business founder John Hall.
Mr Blake declined to comment, telling the Post: “Nothing to do with me, mate. I just work there.”
When it was pointed out he is listed as director he put the phone down.
A police spokesman confirmed four officers responded to a 999 call from Colour My Funeral’s Shirley base on August 29.
They acted on a complaint that items were thrown at bailiffs who were attempting to change locks – and a powder fire extinguisher was set off.
The spokesman added: “A suspect has been identified and arrangements are being made by police to interview him in connection with the incident.”