A grieving mum in Fife has been left disgusted after council workers dumped a huge dirt-filled container on her daughter’s grave.
Beatrice Allan, 73, was horrified to find the large wooden box covering the final resting place of her daughter Michele Canning at Ballingry Cemetery in Fife on June 11.
Mum-of-two Michele was just 52 when she died suddenly from a blood clot in April last year, the Record reports.
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Beatrice told her family she thought her daughter's grave had been '"dug up" when she first saw the mess left by bungling workers.
Her granddaughter, Emma Hodge, 34, said: "My gran stays across from the cemetery so she goes over every single day.
"She went over to put fresh flowers down on Sunday and when she saw the big box on the grave site, she said ‘Oh my God, they’ve dug her back up’, but it was actually the dirt from someone else's grave that was on top of Michele's."
"The box covered the grave next to Michele's too. It was so big. The family whose loved one was being buried actually reached out to us to apologise, even though it wasn’t their fault at all.”
But Emma, 34, claims that Fife Council have yet to say sorry for the distress caused to Michele's family. She continued: "I emailed bereavement services who said they’d put the grave back the way they had found it, but that never happened.
"Michele’s kids, Grace and Allan, also met someone from the council but were told the council can pretty much do what they want.
"There was an area at the top of the grave where they could have put it, but they said they have the right to put it anywhere they want. Surely it must be common sense not to put these containers on top of graves?
"They’ve shown no sympathy or empathy at all. We don’t want any compensation or anything like that - we just want a proper apology and a promise that this won’t happen again.
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"It’s such a beautiful resting place and our family have spent so much time and money making sure it stays that way. We don’t want any other family to go through this because losing a loved one is hard enough."
Thomas Graham, Fife Council bereavement services lead officer, said: “We try to avoid any disturbance in cemeteries but unfortunately it's not always possible for burials to take place without impacting surrounding lairs.
“We reinstate the affected lairs immediately after the burial and make sure any commemorative items are replaced with care. We've met with the family to apologise for any distress caused and to ensure that they're happy with the restoration of Michele's grave.”
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