A GRIEVING son has criticised Worcester Crematorium after he and his family waited five-and-a-half weeks for his father to be cremated.

Mark Stone’s dad died on April 7, but the cremation, at the Astwood Cemetery crematorium, did not take place until last Wednesday (May 16) – which he called “absolutely atrocious.”

Worcester City Council, which runs the crematorium, has offered a 'sincere apology' for the delays and promised to look urgently at speeding up the process - including the possibility of Saturday funerals.

It blames the delay on the sheer number of people requesting cremations.

But Mr Stone said: “This causes unnecessary stress to bereaved families, but it’s standard practice now, apparently.

“For me, it was more a question of dad being alone in the mortuary.

“I know they keep the body in reasonable condition, but it’s not a nice thought. They are slowly decomposing.”

Mr Stone said he knew of others waiting the same amount of time for a cremation in Worcester.

“So, it’s not a one off,” he said.

He says funeral directors told him it was the same sort of waiting time for a burial as for a cremation in the city.

Mr Stone added: “But then you have the issue of certain religions having to bury their dead the following day. What do they do then?”

He compared the situation to when his uncle died last year and was buried in Powick just 10 or 12 days later.

“If people have to go through this now, it’s only going to get worse,” continued Mr Stone.

“I know councils are having to cut budgets, but surely this is one area that they shouldn’t be cutting.

“Can’t they give those who have passed away and their families the respect they deserve?”

He said he and his family knew it was coming, but when they were told it would be over five weeks, his thought was “you must be joking.”

On top of the wait, Mr Stone, of St Peter’s, described the state of the crematorium as "absolutely disgusting."

He said: “The grass around the old graves has not been cut, there were loose bits of grass everywhere, and to cap it all, they were cutting the grass during the service.

“I’m older and it doesn’t get to me so much, but some people would be devastated if they were cutting the grass during a family member’s cremation."

A city council statement said: “We would like to offer a sincere apology for the delays with bookings for cremations at Astwood Cemetery.

“This is a difficult situation for anyone to have to deal with at a time of bereavement. We are now urgently looking at how we can make improvements, and we will be talking to local funeral directors and other partners about the potential for cremation services on Saturday mornings.

“We will be working with our staff to ensure high standards are maintained on the cleanliness of carpeted areas and the management of the lawns surrounding the chapel.”

Regarding the length of the delay, a city council spokeswoman added: “It is the sheer number of requests from families for cremations at this point in time, at this crematorium.”

In an article on March 14, medical journal The BMJ reported a rise of 12.4 per cent or 10,375 additional deaths across the UK since the beginning of the year, compared with the same amount of weeks over the previous five years.