A FUNERAL service had to be delayed after the wrong coffin arrived at the ceremony, it has been revealed.

The funeral directors eventually turned up with the right coffin only to be confronted by distraught relatives of Mary Alice Burdon, 91, who lived at Pinewoods nursing home, in Winlaton, Gateshead.

The Co-op Funeral Service admitted it made a mistake and has refunded the £1,856 funeral charges. Mrs Burdon's son, John, and granddaughter, Dawn, are now seeking compensation. The family has rejected Co-op's offer of £1,000. The complaint is being investigated by arbitrators.

John Burdon, 65, of Whickham near Gateshead, said: "The hearse did an about-turn and went back to the chapel of rest. We were standing outside the church for more than half an hour before they came back with my mother's body. Someone said it was like going to a funeral organised by the Trotter brothers from Only Fools and Horses."

He said it was the vicar who spotted the mistake.

His daughter, Dawn Jordan, 21, is organising the family's complaint against the Co-op.

She said: "The funeral director advised us that it was not my grandmother but someone with a similar name."

The funeral was held at St Paul's Church, Winlaton, Gateshead, last June.

A Co-op spokesman said: "The general manager of our funeral services group wrote back to Dawn Jordan immediately after receiving her letter of complaint to offer apologies for the distress.

"It was caused as a result of one of our employees neglecting to comply with our rigid procedures.

"We arrange more than 13,000 funerals a year in the North-East of England region and pride ourselves on our high standards.

"However, on this occasion the required check was not made by the funeral director involved."

He said the matter was being investigated by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.