‘Unique’ cemetery says grieving relatives must pay for VIP passes to visit graves

A cemetery has started charging £5 per sojourn to their loved one’s graves.

Grieving relatives tin inactive entree the Garden of Remembrance successful Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, for escaped betwixt 9am and 3pm from Monday to Friday.

But aft 19 years successful operation, the graveyard volition soon requires the acquisition of a one-off VIP walk for visits extracurricular mean operating hours.

This costs £5 to sojourn a sedate oregon cremation plot, and £10 per idiosyncratic to sojourn the roseate garden, according to notices erected connected the Spring Garden Road site.

Electric gates volition forestall anyone without a VIP walk from accessing the grounds.

It won’t travel into unit until January, but it’s already causing outrage among radical whose household and friends are buried there, Stoke Sentinel reports.

Jode Bourne, whose begetter Mark was laid to remainder there, said: ‘Now I request to wage a rank interest to sojourn my dad’s grave.

‘This is an implicit disgrace. Shame connected you Garden of Remembrance.’

A announcement astatine the cemetery states: ‘From January 2025 this tract volition beryllium protected by electrical gates.

‘The gates astatine the beforehand of the tract volition unfastened and adjacent automatically astatine acceptable times.

‘Entrance to the cemetery volition beryllium via a VIP walk making the tract unafraid for our staff, families and visitors.

‘Please guarantee you person your walk successful bully clip for the New Year.’

A 2nd announcement states: ‘For visitors who bash not person a VIP pass, entree to the cemetery volition beryllium betwixt the bureau hours of 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday only.

‘Please note, determination volition beryllium nary entree astatine the weekend, connected slope holidays, oregon immoderate different dates erstwhile the bureau is closed. Thank you for your co-operation.’

However, cemetery proprietor Jason Taft – who has spent £8,000 connected accrued information – claims the accusation connected the signs is wrong.

Instead, helium said, mean entree to the 1,300 graves is betwixt 9am and 5pm successful winter, and until 7pm successful summer.

Mr Taft, who claims to person handed retired 90 escaped passes to the astir susceptible visitors, said: ‘There are 1,300 graves determination and we could not nonstop that galore keys retired truthful radical tin travel and get a paper if they privation one.

‘We are not locking radical retired and this gives them entree to the cemetery until 9pm erstwhile we would usually beryllium closed.

‘People tin cognize it’s harmless erstwhile they’re visiting and they’ll beryllium harmless from undesirables breaking successful now.

‘The cardinal cards are not coming into unit until January 1 due to the fact that radical wouldn’t beryllium blessed if we did it earlier Christmas.’

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