Seven more families have had to endure shocking mix-ups burying their loved ones – and there could be even more yet to be reported, The Northern Echo can today reveal.
North East councils have admitted there have been seven grave blunders, with families distressed – and on one occasion, a loved one buried where a footpath was due to go.
The shocking figures, exclusively obtained by The Northern Echo, also revealed thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money has been spent trying to put things right.
Read more: EXCLUSIVE | Durham family spent 17 years visiting wrong grave due to blunder
It comes after The Echo exposed the shocking Wingate grave blunder when the Bell family from County Durham discovered they had been visiting someone else’s grave where they believed their dad Thomas Bell had been buried for 17 years.
They only discovered the blunder after the death of mum Hilda, whose last wishes were to be buried alongside her husband, and grave diggers found someone else was buried in his grave. An investigation into the incident is now underway.
Such mistakes have been revealed in graveyards run by Darlington, Durham, North Tyneside, Sunderland and Redcar and Cleveland councils since 2017.
Read more: Wingate grave blunder family react to more burial errors
In one case in Bishop Auckland, a body was buried in a section of the cemetery “earmarked for a walkway”.
“Human error” was detailed as being to blame in three separate instances, and in one case reduced staff numbers due to Covid were said to have “exacerbated” the issue.
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However, the real number of bodies buried in the wrong place could be considerably more, as the figures only cover graveyards run by local authorities, not those run by Church of England, and only cover the last ten years.
The figures also do not cover cases where memorials or headstones may have been erected in the wrong places.
In one case in Bishop Auckland in 2021 Durham County Council buried somebody in a grave that was “earmarked for a walkway” and paid out £1,500 in compensation to their family.
At Houghton Cemetery in Sunderland a body was buried “several rows away” from the correct plot in 2020, with “human error” and “reduced staffing numbers” due to “Covid isolation” were said to be to blame.
While at Eston Cemetery in 2017, run Redcar and Cleveland Council, a “breakdown of communication” was blamed for a body being interred in the wrong plot, with “appropriate disciplinary action” taken.
Read more: EXCLUSIVE | Bishop Auckland family's upset after visiting wrong grave for 43 years
And twice in Darlington, in 2018 and 2021, gravediggers prepared the wrong plots, one away from where relatives had planned to bury their loved ones, which resulted in one family being compensated £2,450.
A body was also buried in the wrong grave in Benton in North Tyneside earlier this year, and another case in Redcar and Cleveland in 2020 saw a body being dug up and moved after a family deed was discovered after the deceased had been buried.
Now all five councils where mix-ups occurred have apologised for the mistakes and sought to reassure residents the mistakes are extremely rare.
Use the map to see the findings of our investigation:
What did the councils have to say about the errors?
Darlington
Darlington Cllr Andy Keir, cabinet member for local services told The Northern Echo: “The loss of a loved one is always a difficult time for any family and our team work incredibly hard to support people sensitively and carefully.
“We have strict processes in place to ensure graves are identified accurately and that the correct sites are excavated and prepared.
“Where mistakes have been made in the past, procedures were reviewed to understand what had happened and changes made to avoid any further occurrences. We have offered our sincere apologies to those families affected.
“I can reassure families in Darlington that mistakes of any kind in this area are extremely rare and there is no cause for concern.”
Durham
Ian Hoult, Durham County Council’s neighbourhood protection manager, said: “We keep detailed records and plans of all our cemeteries to ensure loved ones are buried in line with their wishes and that of their families.
"On the one occasion where there was an error involving a burial location, we worked quickly and carefully with the family to resolve this.”
North Tyneside
Samantha Dand, Director of Environment at North Tyneside Council, said: “Earlier this year, the council offered our sincerest apologies to a family after the wrong burial plot was used for a funeral at Benton Cemetery.
“The procedures we had in place should have prevented this from happening but there was human error involved and, for this, we were truly sorry. We worked with and supported the family to ensure this was rectified swiftly and with the utmost sensitivity.
“We acted quickly to review our burial procedures and to make changes to prevent this from happening again. We carry out 600 burials every year in North Tyneside and take enormous pride in the services we offer to bereaved relatives. We remain very sorry that something like this could have happened.”
Sunderland
A Sunderland Council spokesperson told The Echo: “An apology was made to relatives and we corrected this error as soon as possible. It was a deeply regrettable matter as staff had come under increasing pressure during the Covid pandemic.”
Redcar and Cleveland
Redcar and Cleveland Cllr Barry Hunt, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Housing, said: “The council follows a number of prescribed policies and procedures to ensure that a burial takes place in the correct plot, and therefore errors are extremely rare.
“This has happened on two occasions in the past 10 years. One was a council error, where we identified the mistake very soon after the burial and sincerely apologised to the family. This was a clerical mistake, and we worked with the family to reach an acceptable solution. The second occasion was not an error by the council; following the funeral, an old deed was discovered which showed that the family had a pre-purchased family plot. In good faith, the council moved their loved one to the correct location free of charge, which the family were grateful for.
“If an issue arises for whatever reason then the council will work with the family to ensure that the best possible outcome is achieved for them and their loved one.
“We’d like to reassure our residents that we have learned from any mistakes that have been made in the past, and we have a robust process in place where all parties, including the family, the council, and the undertaker, are included throughout the entire decision-making process.”
The Northern Echo asked sixteen North East councils to disclose information about times bodies had been buried in the wrong plots.
There were no instances of the distressing blunders happening in Gateshead, Hambleton, Harrogate, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northumberland, South Tyneside, Stockton, or York council-run graveyards. North Yorkshire council said it does not have responsibility for any graveyards in its area.
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