Interment of resident's mum forgotten by Poole crematorium

Claire Mills, 55, was left upset following the incident during the internment of her mum, Peggy Whitworth.

Claire continued to complain of the attitude of staff and said her final goodbyes to her mum was reminiscent of a Monty Python sketch. 

She told the Echo: "It just went from ridiculous to more ridiculous; the only way they found the information was because I had an email and I had to give that to the woman because she couldn't find it. 

"On the phone to the council the woman said 'Peggy wants to be buried with her hubby but we need to know where her hubby is buried'.

"It's the one time that you need to be respectful and the whole thing was very upsetting."

After finding her husband's grave, Claire went on to say that the woman walked by with a shovel but didn't dig deep enough to cover the ashes with a piece of grass 'patted' on top. 

Claire attended the internment with her sister, niece and nephew.

Claire said: "None of the preparation had been done and the fact she asked us if we wanted the ashes sprinkled on top of the grass because she had nothing prepared and couldn't...dig a hole. 

"My nephew put the ashes in and they came past the level of the grass which at that point we were just shaking our heads.

"I said to my sister, it makes you question whether they actually got the right ashes because it was totally incompetent."

Kate Langdown, director of environment at BCP Council said: “Our dedicated team at BCP Bereavement Care enables around three and a half thousand cremations to take place every year which includes more than 600 interment or scattering of ashes.  Every ceremony is equally important, and we aim to conduct each one with dignity and respect.

“On this occasion, an oversight on the cremation paperwork meant that the staff were late in preparing the location intended for these ashes. This should not have happened, and we sincerely apologise to the family for the distress felt as a result of it.”