People could get fined £160 for lingering at funerals in one of UK's 'harshest fines'

Mourners could get slapped with a £160 fine for lingering at a funeral in one of the country's 'harshest fines'

People could get a £160 fine for lingering at a funeral, it's been warned. Funerals are always a sad time where people pay their respects to loved ones who've sadly past on.

Funerals can take place at cemeteries and crematoriums, depending on the service that families choose. However one of the harshest known fines in existence in the UK is the ability for local authorities to issue fines to people who linger at funerals.

The warning was made by Markus Lindblad from Haypp, who said: "Whilst some might argue that loved ones are allowed to pay their respects, the rule was put in place to allow grave diggers to do their work. Unfortunately, one man was caught out by this rule in 2015, and was fined £160 for staying 20 minutes after the funeral had finished."

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The fine was handed to a man called Frank Blades who arrived 45 minutes later to his wife's funeral, according to MailOnline. The financial penalty was handed out by Bassetlaw District Council to Hopkinson’s Funeral Directors, which in turn passed it on to Mr Blades, the newspaper reported.

Mr Blades claimed he was told there was 'no rush' to leave the cemetery and spent 20 minutes after the burial at the site. He felt the council were "trying to cash in" on what was a "difficult time" for his family.

He said: "I didn't have the energy to challenge the fee because I had just buried my partner, and I paid it without a fuss. But a couple of days later, I started to think about it more and I got really angry about it. I want to warn others about the issue because when you've said goodbye to a loved one this is the last thing you want."

Liz Prime, head of neighbourhoods at Bassetlaw District Council, said at the time: "To clarify the situation, this fee was charged to Hopkinson's Funeral Directors due to a late arrival at the cemetery and, to our surprise, they appear to have passed this fee on to Mr Blades. On this occasion the funeral party arrived at the cemetery 45 minutes after the time stated, and in turn, this delayed the process of council staff completing the burial, which took them beyond their contracted hours."

A spokesman for Hopkinson's Funeral Directors said: 'We incurred a charge of £160 from Bassetlaw District Council due to their gravediggers working beyond their contracted hours when our client wished to visit other family graves following the funeral.

"As with any third-party fee that we pay on behalf of our clients this was included in our final invoice. Our funeral director remained at the cemetery with our client until he was ready to return home, for which we did not charge."