A GRIEVING widow was told her husband could not be buried, when she and her children arrived at a Bexley cemetery with his coffin.

Alice Aldridge, 62, together with family, friends and colleagues, had arrived at Hill View cemetery in Welling from her husband Ken’s funeral at Christ Church in Bexleyheath.

But her last farewells to her husband of 41 years, turned into a farce when cemetery staff revealed the funeral directors had forgotten a vital piece of paperwork which would allow him to be buried.

Mrs Aldridge, an accounts officer from Luddesdon Road, Erith, said the missing certificate was the worst of a catalogue of problems she experienced with the Co-operative Funeralcare in Woolwich, over her husband’s funeral.

She said her husband, a retired electrician, had died aged 70 from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

His death required an inquest since it was likely to have been caused by an industrial disease.

The coroner issued a certificate releasing Mr Aldridge’s body for his March 6 burial.

The family says the funeral director is supposed to collect this in person from the coroner’s office.

But despite several calls from the coroner to say the certificate was waiting, the Co-op never collected it.

Mrs Aldridge said: “When we got to the cemetery we were left waiting for about 20 minutes and we thought perhaps the staff were finishing another burial.

“Then someone from the cemetery said ‘We cannot bury your husband today because it would be against the law.’

“I was so embarassed. I thought I had done something wrong.

“It was a complete fiasco.

“The funeral team did not even take us aside and explain what was happening, it was just announced to everyone.”

Mrs Aldridge said the man in charge of her husband’s funeral told her he realised the certificate was missing when he did a final checklist before the funeral, but he thought it would be alright.

But Mrs Aldridge said: “I think he knew it would not be.”

She claimed the family was left to try and resolve the situation, with her son Michael phoning the coroner’s office and persuading it to fax a copy of the certificate to the cemetery office.

Cemetery staff accepted the faxed copy only because of the distressing circumstances.

Mrs Aldridge said: “As a result of all the delay, our funeral team missed their next funeral and created agony for another family.”

The Aldridges had already been forced to wait five weeks for the burial after the Co-op told them there was a waiting list for burials in Bexley, a fact which the family says proved to be untrue.

Mrs Aldridge said: “My daughter Jane lives in Germany and she came over with her children to see her father before his death and was forced to stay on for five weeks for his funeral.”

She added: “And on the day of the funeral, the hearse and cars turned up barely half-an-hour before the service was due to start.”

The family has complained to the Co-op.

Mrs Aldridge said: “All we had was a phone call from Woolwich claiming the cemetery staff had been ‘a bit picky’ and could have allowed the burial without the certificate.

“I just want the Co-op to acknowledge it made mistakes and to put proper procedures in place to make sure no other family has to go through what we did.

“But all it is doing is trying to put the blame elsewhere.”

The family has now contacted the Co-op’s head office in Manchester.

A Co-op spokesman said: “Regrettably, due to an administrative error, the burial certificate was overlooked prior to the funeral.

“On immediate arrival at the cemetery, the funeral director contacted the funeral home and requested a faxed copy of the certificate from the coroner’s office in order for the funeral to go ahead as planned.

“We have contacted the family and expressed our apologies and offered to reduce our professional services fees by 50 per cent.”

He added: “There was a significant increase in the death rate earlier this year, which meant that it was not unusual for a 4-5 week wait for a cemetery booking, particularly in London."