Gravestones covered with 'disrespectful' health and safety stickers by Glasgow council

Mourners brand the intervention ‘morally wrong’, accusing authorities of ‘defacing’ graves

A council has plastered “disrespectful” health and safety stickers over gravestones that it has deemed to be a risk.

Names, dates of death, and tributes to the deceased have been left obscured at cemeteries in Glasgow, Scotland, by warning signs declaring that the headstones fail safety standards.

Glasgow city council said the stickers were necessary to get families to repair wobbly gravestones that it deemed “dangerous”.

But mourners have branded its intervention as “morally wrong” and accused the authority of “defacing” graves.

Sami Tollett was visiting her father’s grave at Riddrie Park Cemetery when she saw the stickers displayed on nearby graves.

“It’s disgusting and morally wrong to deface somebody’s resting place,” she told BBC Scotland.

“It’s actually sad to see. It used to be a lovely place, well kept and maintained, but now it’s an eyesore.

“It’s even worse with the big stickers all over the headstones.”

Gillian Sooter, who was visiting the Lambhill cemetery, said she was upset that the labels were “covering up the people’s names”.

“It looks terrible to think your loved ones are lying here and on their stones are a big white sticker,” she said.

Glasgow City Council has inspected the tombs in its cemeteries annually since 2015 when Ciaran Williamson, eight, died when a headstone in the Craigton graveyard fell on him.

The inquiry into the schoolboy’s death heard that 900 headstones at the cemetery had been found to be unsafe in the days after his death.

A spokesman for the council said all tombstones have since been subject to a yearly “topple test” where council workers push them to see if they are unstable and loose.

“I understand that this will be upsetting to people but we don’t want to be back where we were in 2015,” the spokesman said.

He added that the stickers were the most effective way of contacting family members, who are legally responsible for maintaining graves, to make them safe.

“I think this is definitely the lesser of two evils,” he said.

In a statement, the council said: “Regular inspections of headstones is a statutory obligation for the council but the maintenance and upkeep of any memorial is a matter for the owner.

“However, as owners themselves pass on, identifying a person to take responsibility for headstone maintenance can become very challenging.

“Applying these notices to headstones is an effective way to reach out to families and they have helped us to make contact with people who have an interest in undertaking necessary repairs.

“Headstone maintenance is not a service we provide and families must privately engage an appropriate stonemason to complete any work.

“As a last resort, headstones will be laid flat to ensure public safety, although we know this can cause upset to families when they become aware of the poor condition of their family members’ memorial.”