A WOMAN was left horrified when she arrived to place flowers on her mum's grave - to discover a mound of rubble, covered with polythene, had been dumped on it by council workers.

The woman found the pile of dirt covering four graves in total at Stevenston's High Road cemetery, which lay there for five days.

She says she was "shocked and distressed", branding it "disrespectful".

North Ayrshire Council said today that the rubble was moved there as they planned for a burial and claimed the practice was "not uncommon".

She said: "It caused me great distress to find that a huge mound of rubble, covered with polythene, was over my mum's grave as well as another three graves, which are side-by-side. 

"Initially, I had thought that it was a freshly dug grave, but it was not. 

"I was in shock. This is so disrespectful and hurtful that the council have been so heartless to do such a thing.

"They did not contact us in any way to make us aware that they would be doing it and there are huge areas within the cemetery that they could have put this rubble without being disrespectful and causing emotional distress.

"I was unable to access my mum's headstone area to place her flowers."

Upset, she contacted the council to demand an explanation.


The woman added: "The council replied to say it was planning for a burial. No apology offered and no understanding of my distress or the disrespectful way that they had dumped the rubble on my mum's grave and surrounding resting places.

"I am disgusted by the way they have treated this area, as there are plenty of areas the rubble could have been stored and for it to have lay like that for at least five days, it's shocking."

A North Ayrshire Council spokesperson said: “While we understand how this could have been upsetting, it is common practice in cemeteries throughout Scotland.

“Soil from the excavated grave is put on plastic sheets, which are placed on adjacent graves to minimise manual handling operations and disturbance to the site.

“It is not feasible to transport this soil to other areas of the cemetery, nor is it feasible to contact any title holders who might be affected to advise them of this. 

“Normally, graves are excavated two working days prior to the interment taking place, although this is dependent on workloads and other factors.

“The grave in question was excavated on Thursday, October 3 and the interment took place on Monday, October 7. This was longer than usual as it was over a weekend. 

“Everything was tidied away after the burial, and this has been explained to her.

"We apologise for any distress, and we understand that people who are not familiar with how cemeteries operate will, in some cases, be surprised when they first see this.”