Grieving woman compares mother’s interment to a Monty Python sketch after staff ask if it is okay to just sprinkle the ashes so they don’t have to dig a hole

A grieving daughter has likened her mother’s funeral to a Monty Python sketch after crematorium staff botched the ceremony.

Peggy Whitworth’s dying wish was to be buried next to her beloved husband Ken, but when her family arrived to say their goodbyes the crematorium was unprepared.

The staff did not prepare the cemetery and instead asked the family to “scatter” the ashes on the plot.

When told no, the staff member dug a shallow hole which meant the ash flowed to the ground as she pathetically tried to pat a piece of grass over it.

The 94-year-old daughter, Claire Mills, revealed that the process became increasingly ridiculous – and as it went on, more and more reminiscent of a comedy skit.

Peggy Whitworth’s sketch (pictured) was compared to a Monty Python sketch of her daughter, who says the crematorium staff were completely unprepared

The 94-year-old’s dying wish was to be buried next to her beloved husband Ken (pictured at their wedding)

Claire, her sister, niece and nephew attended the ceremony at Poole Crematorium in Dorset following the death of her mother in April.

However, the grieving daughter, along with relatives who had made the 105-mile journey from London, were left stunned when staff had no record of their appointment.

Claire, 55, an administrator from Poole, said: “We arranged the funeral through Tappers.

‘Mum wanted her ashes to be buried with Dad, so Tappers contacted BCP Council to find out where Dad’s ashes were and arranged the funeral for us.

“It took them a few hunts to get the right confirmation.”

The 55-year-old explained that they booked the appointment for 2.15pm on June 7 and even had to arrive ten minutes early.

But upon their arrival, they were greeted by an empty office and unprepared staff.

‘We went to the office and rang the doorbell, but no one came. We looked around, but there was no one there.

‘Finally a woman came into the office at 2.20pm and when we told her why we were there she just looked at us blankly.

‘She then took out the ashes and asked, “What do you do with them?” We explained that we were there for the funeral and she said they had no record of that.

Claire called the experience “unprofessional” and said the staff member was on the phone with the council asking where Peggy’s husband was resting.

However, her grieving daughter, Claire Mills (pictured), was shocked when Poole Crematorium had no record of their arrangement for her mother’s funeral.

The staff didn’t know where her father was buried and even asked if they could scatter her mother’s ashes on her husband’s grave so they wouldn’t have to dig a hole (photo: Ken and Peggy)

“About ten minutes later she still hadn’t discovered anything and I remembered I’d had an email from Tappers with the reference of where Dad was buried,” she said.

‘She then asked if we wanted mum’s ashes to actually be put in the ground, or if we wanted them scattered on the grass.

“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ She came out of the office with a shovel and went to the green to dig a hole.

‘As we walked downstairs she said sorry that they had been having a lot of computer problems and that many customers’ information had gone wrong.

‘We didn’t really need to hear that, because we are on our way to say goodbye.

‘It was a very rough hole and when my cousin poured the ashes in it became clear that the hole was not deep enough.

Realizing that the ash would rise above the grass level, the staff member then tried to knock some grass over it.

A staff member blamed the confusion with bookings on several computer errors (photo: Poole Crematorium)

“At this point we felt like we were in a Monty Python comedy sketch. My sister and I just looked at each other shaking our heads,” she added.

‘The woman said, ‘Someone will come along later and make up for it.’ We just wanted it to be over, we thought what will happen next. It was just a farce.

‘It should have been a poignant farewell, mom and dad together again, and it was just completely ruined.

“They should have been prepared, there was already a hole dug when we got there. We were all crying, it just wasn’t what we wanted.”

Kate Langdown, Environment Director at BCP Council said: “Our dedicated team at BCP Bereavement Care ensures that around three and a half thousand cremations can take place every year, including more than 600 burials or scatterings of ashes.

“Every ceremony is equally important and we strive to conduct each ceremony with dignity and respect.

“On this occasion, an oversight with the cremation paperwork meant that staff were late in preparing the site for these ashes.

“This should not have happened, and we sincerely apologize to the family for any distress this has caused us.”