Anguish over collapsed grave

A pensioner turned up at his wife's grave to find part of it had collapsed, he said today.

Stan Millard, aged 80, said he had been left broken-hearted by damage to his wife Doris's grave in Wednesbury's Fallings Heath Cemetery.

It was caused as workers dug an adjoining grave. Sandwell Council said weather was to blame for the grave partially collapsing but stressed it was rectified on the same day. Ex-factory worker Mr Millard, of Rydding Square, West Bromwich, said part of his wife's grave was dug into.

He said damage, since repaired, left him "devastated". His wife died in 2006 and Mr Millard tries to visit her grave daily.

"I was heartbroken when I saw what had happened," he said. "It is just disgraceful and I am really upset by the whole thing. I try and visit the grave every day when I can," he added.

He also said workers drove heavy machinery over graves - damaging grass and weakening surrounding land on plots. "I have seen people driving diggers and they don't seem to care about the damage," he said.

"The worst part is the equipment leaves dents in the grass about three or four foot deep and it makes the whole area look untidy.

"I have contacted Sandwell Council to ask them to put some form of sheeting down when they are driving to protect the land, but I have not heard anything back about it."

His daughter and mother-of-one Margaret Dunn, 58, from Arundel Avenue in Wednesbury, said: "I am really hurt by what has happened. There is just a lack of compassion about the work that goes on up there and even when families have gone they just dump the dirt back into the plot."

Wednesbury North Councillor Bill Archer said: "Obviously something needs to be done to make sure that this does not end up happening again."

Sandwell Council's cabinet member for neighbourhoods and housing Councillor Mahboob Hussain said: "An adjoining grave was dug and we used the necessary equipment. But due to the weather conditions the grave did partially collapse and some soil did fall in.

"This was rectified on the same day. We have subsequently spoken to the family, explaining what had happened and apologising. We are reviewing how we dig our graves."