Funeral ‘ruined’ after council fail to dig grave

Mourners have described how a family funeral was ruined – because the council hadn’t dug the grave. Grieving relatives of grandmother Mary Evans only learnt of the blunder when the funeral procession was already on the way from the church service to the West Wales cemetery. Andrea Evans, 40, said she was stunned when she was told why Wednesday’s cortege had been brought to a halt just minutes before her late mother was due to be buried.

“We were on our way, we had arranged to stop at the end of the lane were my mother and father live, so that’s what we thought we were stopping for initially,” she said. “One of the gentlemen from the funeral directors came over and said there was a problem, and we waited 10 minutes, and they said the council had made a mistake and the hole hadn’t been dug.” Their mother’s coffin was taken back to the chapel of rest and the family returned home while they waited to find out if the problem would be sorted.



The noon burial at Honeyborough Cemetery, Neyland, was eventually delayed for four hours by the mix-up. Miss Evans said her father, William Evans, 73, had been devastated by the events. The couple had been married for 45 years, and had courted for five years prior their wedding. Daughter Jane Berry, 42, said: “It was just dreadful. It was awful. It was only because of the influence of the undertaker that they dug the hole for her to be buried.

“Someone came round from the council. He was very apologetic, said stupid things like ‘you won’t incur any additional costs’. It was horrendous. If it had been up to them, they wouldn’t have laid her to rest until Thursday. The undertaker was brilliant. He actually said ‘you will dig this hole today, even if I have to do it myself’.” Miss Evans called for steps to be taken to ensure no other grieving family has to suffer the same ordeal.