Council says ‘sorry’
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Antrim Borough Council has been forced to apologise this week after a digger was driven over graves at Belmont Cemetery.
ANTRIM Borough Council has apologised this week after it admitted that a contractor working on its behalf to carry out maintenance work at Belmont Cemetery drove a heavy digger over graves.
Civic centre staff were forced to eat humble pie after it emerged that the resting places were damaged by the machinery, which is currently carrying out repairs to headstones.
Families who thought their loved ones had been laid to a peaceful rest in the Antrim graveyard were 'shocked' to discover that the heavy duty vehicle had torn up a number of cherished burial plots.
The machine has left prominent caterpillar tracks over graves where flowers and wreaths once rested.
Photographs in the possession of the Antrim Guardian also reveal a digger driver pouring soil over one grave while his vehicle is parked on top of another.
The weight of the machinery has also caused some of the graves to sink slightly.
It is believed that the general repair work, which is expected to last for another two weeks, will steady the headstones that have become unsettled as their concrete bases have deteriorated over the years.
Antrim man Tommy Holmes, whose father is buried at Belmont Cemetery, said he was 'shocked and horrified' to see a digger drive over his father's grave.
“I not disputing that the work has to be done but it should be carried out with more dignity and respect for people's loved ones," he said.
“Respect should come into any graveyard and you just don't expect to see people drive over your father's grave. It is a disgrace."
DUP councillor for Antrim town, John Smyth, said that the 'lack of compassion shown towards people's loved ones was very much regrettable'.
