Family 'upset and disgusted' after Leeds City Council took down loved one's headstone at Rothwell Cemetery
A family has criticised Leeds City Council for taking down a loved one's headstone at Rothwell Cemetery for safety reasons without telling them.
Dennis Brewster said his late father in law's headstone is one of more than a dozen that have been laid flat on the ground with labels attached at the Haigh Road cemetery.
The labels state the headstones have been deemed unsafe and ask families not to move them and to call the council's memorial masons team
Leeds City Council has said work to make the headstones safe will have to be done by a memorial mason.
Mr Brewster has been given one quote of £250 for work to anchor his father-in-law Dennis Forrest's headstone to the ground.
Mr Brewster fears more families visiting cemeteries across Leeds in the run up to Christmas will face the upset of discovering memorials have been taken down without notice.
Dennis Forrest died aged 50 in 1981 after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Spain.
Mr Brewster said the headstone incident has upset his wife Susan, 63, and her mother Mavis, 86.
Mr Brewster, 68, said: "We are disgusted. The headstone didn't feel loose to us at all. It wasn't as if it was about to topple over at any second.
"It is upsetting for people to see their loved ones' gravestones on the floor. The first thing you think is that it has been vandalised.
"The council should be telling people what they are doing. They must have some sort of register of who owns the plots .
"They could make some kind of effort to contact people. It's disgraceful. If vandals had gone and knocked them all down everybody would be up in arms."
He added: "Whilst for us the cost may not be an issue, for many others that may not be the case."
A Leeds City Council spokesperson said: "Our team carry out safety tests on all memorial headstones, regardless of their age, across all 24 of the council’s managed cemeteries.
"Headstones are inspected once every five years, and are laid down if they are deemed to be unsafe.
“We do not wish to cause any upset to bereaved families, particularly at this difficult time.
“Nonetheless, the council has a legal duty to act quickly where the condition of graves and headstones could present a risk to the public, and to ensure that our cemeteries are safe.
“Before any action is taken, notices are placed around the cemetery informing the public that memorial testing will be taking place.
"Grave owners who find their headstone laid down can employ the services of a memorial mason to have the memorial safely reinstated.”