Bereaved son blasts undertaker who 'lost' his dad's body - forcing funeral to be postponed
1 年前
A bereaved son has blasted an undertakers after they 'lost' his dad's body - forcing the funeral to be postponed.
Leigh Blanning, 51, said his experience with L J Guyan has been "horrific".
He enlisted the firm after dad John Blanning, 82, passed away in December 2022.
But when it came to the day of the funeral Leigh was told the ceremony could not go ahead - because the hearse had broken down.
Devastated Leigh, from Bristol, had to tell mourners to go straight to the wake - meaning they couldn't pay their proper respects.
And, after L J Guyan launched a probe, it turned out it wasn't that the hearse hadn't broken down - but that the late Mr Blanning's body had been misplaced.
A report said the body had been left in Bath and not taken to Keynsham, where the funeral director's office was.
This meant it could not be transported to the funeral location in Bristol in time.
L J Guyan apologised.
But Leigh said: “It was the most horrific experience I’ve ever had. Even now, a couple of months, on I don’t feel any justice has been done.
“I feel that I’ve let my dad down and it’s left me feeling so bitter and angry about it.
"It was a day we should have been celebrating my dad’s life and it turned out to be day where we were talking about what happened instead.
“People weren’t really giving that much thought to dad, I know it was something beyond our control but the effect that it had on me was unbearable.
“It’s been completely upsetting."
Leigh reconnected with his dad after 38 years apart just a decade ago.
After he died, Leigh was told by a family member that they had previously worked with L J Guyan on other family funerals.
The company, based in Keynsham, organised the ceremony for January 16, 2023 - a Monday.
However, when on his way to the funeral, Leigh says he received a call from L J Guyan informing him that there had been an issue - and the funeral would be going ahead later than planned.
Unable to celebrate his father’s life as planned, the attendees made their way to the wake and Leigh later called the funeral directors who he claims explained that the hearse had broken down.
He says L J Guyan offered to rearrange the funeral for the following Friday – but many of the mourners couldn’t attend the new date, making for a much more subdued occasion.
Dissatisfied with the experience, Leigh requested a full investigation and months later received a full report.
This said that Mr Blanning's body was taken to Bath to be prepared for the funeral.
But he was then not transported back to the funeral firm's premises in Keynsham as he should have been - and staff failed to carry out checks.
This meant that when the hearse arrived at the Keynsham property on the day of the funeral, Mr Blanning's body was still in Bath - nine miles away.
The report said: "On the morning of 16th January, the day that your father’s funeral was due to take place, our funeral director went to close your fathers coffin and prepare for the funeral and realised that your father was not resting in Keynsham.
"She discovered that your father was still resting in Bath. By this time, our bearer party and hearse were arriving at Keynsham.
"Our funeral director contacted you and told you that our hearse had broken down.
"This was not true."
Leigh, who quit his job to look after his dad, said: “Everyone I’ve spoken to has said they’ve never heard of this happening before and even the funeral home said it has never happened before.
“How can you lose a body? In the report they accept full liability, they admit lying and failing.
“I’d had a phone call on Sunday evening to say everything was fine, so I said why did I get that phone call and how could they say everything was fine when his body wasn’t there.
“No one realised the body was in Bath and no one in Bath realised he was there - you would imagine they do some kind of stock check.
“It took two months for them to complete the investigation, I was calling regularly for updates and felt I was being fobbed off - all I wanted to know is what happened.”
A spokesperson for L J Guyan said: “Caring for deceased persons in a professional and respectful manner is at the core of everything we do.
"We accept that in this instance our robust procedures and policies have not been followed and we have fallen short of the standards we strive for and that our clients have every right to expect.
"We have apologised in person to our client and will continue to support them.
"Following a thorough investigation, we have amended our processes to ensure there is no repeat of this regrettable situation.”
相關影片推薦
9:00
韓國工廠火災:中國朝鮮族女工遇難 家屬淚訴最後訊息BBC NEWS 中文62,581 次觀看・2 週前2:01
中國快時尚危機 年丟2600萬噸衣服 合成纖維占7成無法回收Yahoo奇摩(國際通)129,605 次觀看・2 週前1:58
鼓山美術館豪宅區淹大水 整片"土黃泥流"損失慘民視影音151,892 次觀看・1 天前1:58
新北送高雄1146元外送單是真的! 外送員現身東森新聞影音418,708 次觀看・3 天前1:47
台南新營區"後鎮排水"潰堤 鹽水區淹成汪洋民視影音212,695 次觀看・1 天前2:43
只差3秒! 蘇花工程人員逃命畫面曝光 倒車逃險遭埋華視影音99,855 次觀看・1 天前11:02
地震來了怎麼辦?豆腐別再涼拌了,教你新吃法,做法簡單味道足,加上杏鮑菇,香!芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV73,180 次觀看・5 天前2:27
凱米來襲!高雄多區淹水一級警戒 高美館豪宅區淹水「影片曝光」民視影音152,796 次觀看・2 天前10:59
如何把剩飯變好吃?加上小黃瓜,不油炸不燉煮,出鍋孩子搶著吃,香!芭樂媽的家 Qistin Wong TV21,878 次觀看・5 天前1:47
日本芒果好貴!一顆要價近千元 台日價差10倍|#鏡新聞鏡新聞8,453 次觀看・2 週前
熱門必看
13:07
葉全真不愛邀人作客竟是因為這點?唐老師:「好典型的處女座」!Ep.225-2唐綺陽談星室377,132 次觀看・3 週前24:06
霸氣挑戰南部小吃價格 吃到賺到!板橋10樣親民價美食Yahoo創作摩人136,185 次觀看・1 個月前23:55
吃爆三峽老街美食|九間就被擊垮了|最道地金牛角竟是這家?|阿環格格出遊去 Ft.阿環小姐 [送你營養吃]黃君聖Sunny營養師155,435 次觀看・1 個月前21:58
瀕臨破產到全球市值最強!輝達(Nvidia)是怎麼崛起的?買他們股票的都賺翻了?《 時代的巨人》EP 021|志祺七七志祺七七 X 圖文不符202,990 次觀看・1 個月前6:30
台中南屯|百年秘方汕頭火鍋Lee Yi李易42,857 次觀看・1 個月前