Fury as cemetery charges relatives for VIP passes to visit loved-ones' graves

Grieving relatives are furious after a cemetery started charging them for a VIP pass to visit loved-ones' graves. Notices in the Garden of Remembrance - on Spring Garden Road, in Longton - state that it will only be open from 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday from January 1 for non-VIP pass-holders.

Purchasers of the one-off VIP passes will have access to the cemetery outside of the normal opening hours. The Garden of Remembrance is charging £10-per-person to visit the rose garden and £5 to visit a grave or cremation plot.

Mark Bourne is buried in the Garden of Remembrance.

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Daughter Jode Bourne said: "Now I need to pay a membership fee to visit my dad's grave. This is an absolute disgrace. Shame on you Garden of Remembrance."

The Garden of Remembrance is a 'unique' independently-owned cemetery which opened 19 years ago.

A notice in the grounds states: "From January 2025 this site will be protected by electric gates. The gates at the front of the site will open and close automatically at set times. Entrance to the cemetery will be via a VIP pass making the site secure for our staff, families and visitors. Please ensure you have your pass in good time for the New Year."

A second notice states: "For visitors who do not have a VIP pass, access to the cemetery will be between the office hours of 9am to 3pm Monday to Friday only. Please note, there will be no access at the weekend, on bank holidays, or any other dates when the office is closed. Thank you for your co-operation."

But owner Jason Taft has told StokeonTrentLive that the information on the notices is incorrect. The cemetery has 1,300 graves and is currently open from 9am to 5pm in winter and 9am to 7pm in summer every day. He says pass-holders will now be able to extend their stay until 9pm every night. Mr Taft says he has spent £8,000 on the increased security and handed out 90 free passes to his most vulnerable customers.

Mr Taft said: “There are 1,300 graves there and we could not send that many keys out so people can come and get a card if they want one. We are not locking people out and this gives them access to the cemetery until 9pm when we would normally be closed. People can know it’s safe when they’re visiting and they’ll be safe from undesirables breaking in now. The key cards are not coming into force until January 1 because people wouldn’t be happy if we did it before Christmas."

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