Hereford unsafe headstone warnings spark family anger
Warning stickers have appeared on dozens of graves at Hereford Cemetery, labelling headstones as "unsafe" and prompting families to foot the bill for repairs.Bereaved families said the memorials appeared sturdy and some had been put in 12 years ago, and should last longer.Adrian Herbert, one of those affected, said the tags appeared just before Mother's Day, which was insensitive, and many of the headstones categorised as unstable did not wobble.In a statement, Herefordshire Council said: "We are fully aware of the sensitive nature of what we do, and it was felt that the placing of the warning sign on a memorial was by far the most reasonable and sympathetic."
Mr Herbert, whose mother was buried in the cemetery after she died from cancer in 2002, said: "It's just not nice for the families that have got these stickers on."I get that if it's about to fall over, then maybe there should be a yellow sticker on it or something."But he said that some did not wobble and were not unsafe.
"I don't understand why they couldn't just contact the families without the yellow stickers," Mr Herbert said."It seems like they've gone about it the wrong way."We could get a stonemason to come and do the work. It would be no different to what it is now and all we're doing is paying for a cost to apparently repair something that's not going to be any different at the end of it."Remembering his mother as "amazing", he said she was really missed and the family visited the cemetery "quite often", adding: "It's just not nice for the families that have got these stickers on." The council statement said: "Memorial safety was brought to light following cases where memorials had toppled over causing injuries, sometimes fatal, to members of the public."The Health and Safety Executive had written to every authority requesting the management of all memorials be taken seriously, the authority added, and standards were produced detailing how memorials should be fitted.It said its bereavement services department had used the services of an industry-recognised company to carry out a recent round of inspections which began on 18 March at three sections of Hereford Cemetery.The council said it now had the inspection report containing details of memorials that needed work and was in the process of writing to people.
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