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<\/p>\n‘Devastated’ families have hit out at a council that deliberately knocked over hundreds of gravestones at three cemeteries without warning, claiming the memorials were a safety risk.<\/p>\n
Residents visiting the graves of their loved ones at Heaton cemetery were furious when they discovered that the headstones, laid flat on the grass, had not been taken down by vandals but by Newcastle city council.<\/p>\n
While the council argued that notice had been in place at the cemeteries before the work took place but a number of people said they were not contacted and that to have the stones restored would cost \u00a3250.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek Armstrong visited the cemetery last week to visit the memorial to his triplets who died before they reached their first birthday.<\/p>\n
He wanted to visit his sons resting place ahead of laying his mother-in-law’s ashes the next day but when he arrived he found the boys’ headstone lying on the ground with a yellow sign branding it ‘unsafe’.<\/p>\n
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Derek Armstrong visited the cemetery last week to visit the memorial to his triplets who died before they reached their first birthday to find the headstone had been laid flat\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The council said it had taken down the headstones for safety reasons and had left a notice sign at the cemetery\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew, Daniel and Luke were born on April 23 1995 at 24 weeks ‘weighing just ounces’. Matthew died a day after he was born, Daniel at nine-days old and Luke at five-months.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Armstrong told the Newcastle Chronicle:\u00a0‘Luke went through a heart operation when he was only six inches long. He got through it. As months went by he actually got to the green area in the hospital which means you’re coming home.<\/p>\n
‘Doctors were there to discuss oxygen being put in the house but then we got the bad news that he wasn’t coming home because he was slowly dying. It was a lot to go through.’<\/p>\n
Since his triplets died, Mr Armstrong has visited the site regularly, planting flowers for the boys in the summer and taking Christmas cards at this time of year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he felt that there was ‘nothing wrong’ with the headstone adding: ‘It was a big shock when I went there and they were taking graves down. I couldn’t get my head around how many they had actually done.’<\/p>\n
The bereaved father has now been quoted \u00a3300 plus VAT to have the headstone put back up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jo, who did not want to reveal her surname, said the sight of her mother’s headstone toppled over broke her heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Residents visiting the graves of their loved ones at Heaton cemetery were furious when they discovered the headstones laid flat on the grass<\/p>\n
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Heartbroken families have slammed council bosses for toppling over headstones they deemed unsafe in Yoprkshire earlier this month\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I got a phone call to say my mam’s headstone had been pulled over by the council. It broke my heart and I’m not like that. I don’t cry for nothing,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘I’ve passed the cemetery loads of times since and I have been too scared to come in. But here I am now and I am devastated,’ the woman told the BBC.<\/p>\n
Lawrence Lamb, 76, was left in a similar situation, finding that the grave stones of his parents, Jane and Jack Lamb, were amongst the hundreds pulled down in the cemeteries across the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The retired ship worker told the Times: ‘It was devastating to see.\u00a0We were told nothing about it beforehand, they just knocked it down. And what a time of year to do it too, right before Christmas.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Similarly Gerri Monk, 73, visited the cemetrary to lay a Christmas wreath at her parents grave last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her daughter Holly Kelleher, 44, told the paper that her mother would have happily paid the \u00a3250 to deal with unsafe headstones but the council ‘made no effort to contact the families’.<\/p>\n
‘Until someone apologies to my mother, I won’t let this go. She was heartbroken,’ Ms Kelleher added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, council chiefs in North Yorkshire also sparked outrage after pulling down dozens of headstones following a so-called ‘topple test’.<\/p>\n
Angry residents described the actions by workmen at Haxby and Wigginton Cemetery near York, North Yorkshire, as an ‘act of vandalism.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Newcastle City Council spokesperson said: ‘We have a legal duty to ensure our cemeteries are safe places for people to pay their respects and for our staff to work in. In June, we started a programme of work to carry out safety inspections in all 10 of the council’s managed cemeteries.<\/p>\n
‘A decision to lay down a memorial is only taken if they are deemed to present a risk to the public. We understand this is an emotive and sensitive subject but we would like to reassure families that the work is carried out with the greatest respect and sensitivity.<\/p>\n
‘We always try to contact the last known owner should their headstone need to be repaired but please appreciate this may not always be possible. Our staff are always on hand to provide support and guidance to families so they can get their memorials repaired.’<\/p>\n