- Channel 4 Dispatches programme shows casket lid was removed to cram four bodies into a van which left elderly woman's nose nearly touching roof
- Horrific moment when the wrong body is discovered at a funeral and family wait 30 minutes for the right coffin to be found
- Undercover programme also reveals that if a family member requests to see their relatives again bodies are quickly returned to the funeral home
- Last year firm handled 100,000 funerals and made £51million profit
By Chris Brooke
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Britain’s biggest funeral firm has been accused of treating the dead with shocking disrespect and stacking bodies ‘like television sets’ at industrial-scale storage units.
Instead of being kept in a chapel of rest before burial or cremation, the dead are kept among ‘rack upon rack of bodies’ in a warehouse-style ‘hub’.
An undercover investigation revealed overworked staff were ‘treating bodies like luggage.’
Grim: Co-op Funeralcare were shown storing the bodies at a warehouse - the grieving families believed the deceased were at funeral homes
In one incident four bodies had to be transported in the same van and the lid was taken off an elderly woman’s coffin so they could all fit.
The woman’s nose was almost touching the shelf above and when the body was unloaded in view of a block of flats a member of staff held the lid over the coffin to ‘preserve some dignity’.
Co-operative Funeralcare, which has 900 funeral homes across the country and last year made a profit of over £52million, has apologised for bad practices revealed in Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and has launched an internal inquiry.
An investigator for the show worked in one of the hubs, which each serve several funeral homes.
Horror: Secretly filmed by Channel 4's Dispatches the findings are horrifying as last year Co-op Funeralcare handled 100,000 funerals last year and made a £51million profit
The investigator saw bodies, some of which were uncovered, being slid in and out of racks just centimetres apart in a refrigerated mortuary.
Conditions were described as ‘chaotic’ and staff were accused of breaking the industry code of practice, which requires funeral directors to act in a ‘courteous, sensitive, dignified and professional manner’.
Commenting on the storage arrangements, former funeral ombudsman Professor Geoffrey Woodroffe said: ‘I had no idea â€" they’re treating people as if they’re stacking television sets really.
‘I’d hate to think that a member of my family would have been treated in that way. I find it shocking.’
He also criticised the lidless coffin incident, adding: ‘That isn’t dignified, it isn’t sensitive.’
George Tinning, managing director of Co-operative Funeralcare, admitted the woman’s body should not have been transported without a coffin lid. ‘It’s not right. I’m very sorr y about that,’ he said.
But he defended the company’s hubs for storing bodies, commenting: ‘I don’t believe it’s industrial, I believe the premises are fitted out to a high standard.
Shipped out: The programme showed that if a family member requests to see their relatives again, bodies are quickly returned to the funeral home
‘I think the key here is the care that we take with the deceased when they are in our premises.’
There was also criticism of sales methods at a branch in Hayes, West London, where trainees were told not to offer the basic £2,010 package to customers. The area manager said: ‘The bottom line is we’re a business and we need to make money.’
Professor Woodroffe said there was a ‘clear breach of the code’ as customers were not being made aware of the full range of services.
Mr Tinning apologised for high-pressure selling and promised to address it.
Traumatic: Another horrific moment screened is when the wrong body is discovered at a funeral
‘I’m very proud of the operation I run, but equally I’m shocked and disappointed by the things that you’ve uncovered,’ he told Dispatches.
A Co-operative Funeralcare spokesman said no one at the firm had seen the programme, adding: ‘We have a long-established reputation for delivering highly professional services.
‘We are, however, shocked and disappointed by the information provided to us by this programme, which goes against everything we stand for.
‘We do not believe that the instances shown in the programme are representative of our many caring staff.
Coffin warehouse: Co-op Funeralcare have said they were 'shocked and disappointed by the information' revealed in undercover investigation
‘We have, however, launched an immediate investigation into the programme’s findings and will take any action necessary to ensure our high standards and our policy of enabling clients to make informed choices is maintained.’
The firm was criticised three years ago when the wrong body was brought to Teesside Crematorium, followed 30 minutes later by the correct body in a van.
Recalling the funeral of her mother Olwyn, Mandy Rowden said: ‘It was awful. Terrible. I couldn’t cry because I was so angry.’
Co-operative Funeralcare later apologised, waived costs, paid compensation and disciplined staff.
The Dispatches investigation, Undercover Undertaker, is screened on Channel 4 tonight at 8pm.
Allegations: Dispatches suggests the firm could be in breach of industry codes when staff deliberately tried to sell mourners more expensive funerals than required
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Mr Tinning apologised for high-pressure selling and promised to address it.------------------How about addressing your resignation Mr Tinning !! You sound like one cold calculating ruthless person, considering the circumstances involved. Well, at least I am now aware of the co-op and will tell everyone i know to avoid them like the plague.
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you try getting a job with them they tell you to buy a car at the interview knowing i hadn't got one then to tell you that you had a job but it had gone from a perm to a casual contract and they had to start the whole process again and if i was to apply again they would interview me again when i told them that it was only 2 weeks ago when they saw me and nothing had changed after that was said and i told there head office what the manger told me to do he was asked and denied ever knowing me or seeing me in the interview and denied ever saying buy a car or you can not have a job lesson in the school of hard knocks don't ever trust them to keep there word i die i will never use the coop i am giving it to science a least they give you respect and dignity finely i like to say well done channel four about time the big compaines got there come upance
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- country girl, down south, 24/6/2012 15:04 said "..... I have only ever dealt with a small funeral home in Tuckton, Christchurch and can honestly say that they were brilliant. They have dealt with all our family's deaths, you can visit whenever you like, you don't have to give notice and they are very sympathetic and understanding..." Unfortunately you will now find that they've since been acquired by a Corporate, not the Coop however
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Why don't they bury people vertically? Just think of the room you could save!
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Don't know what all the fuss is about , bet they had less room on a package deal flight,and they were alive,
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When we lost my dad three years ago we used the Co Op to do his funeral. Simply because the shop was at the end of the street and my mother wasn't really in the right place to shop around. They were quick and very friendly. However we had a problem with the coffin, my dads friends wanted to carry him into the church and the funeral directors refused. We stood and argued with them in the street outside until they agreed that they could carry the coffin if we had six pallbearers instead of four. The funeral directors then proceeded to carry my dads coffin to the graveside between three of them, struggling and swaying across the grass in a very undignified manner. We were also told before the funeral that we couldn't see him in the home. When faced with a situation like this I can only describe it as you revert into a childlike state, you believe that everything people tell you is for the best. After reading this I am beginning to question everything the Co-Op told my family.
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Undertaking used to be a service supplied by local people. Now it is big business:The Undertaker has been replaced by the accountant. You are no longer a person but a number and the only important thing is the bottom line. And with it all the cost of a funeral have sky-rocketed. If they don't shaft you when you are alive you can bet they will when you die.
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Undertaking used to be a service supplied by local people. Now it is big business:The Undertaker has been replaced by the accountant. You are no longer a person but a number and the only important thing is the bottom line. And with it all the cost of a funeral have sky-rocketed. If they don't shaft you when you are alive you can bet they will when you die.
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I'm not at all surprised. A friend of mine lost her husband very suddenly, and wanted to arrange the funeral with the Co-op, however they wouldn't even entertain any arrangements until a deposit of £500 was paid. When I challenged this (a different branch of the co-op had NEVER asked for a deposit for the funerals they had arranged for my family) the person I was speaking to just replied "well we ARE a business you know." Needless to say, my friend used another firm who treated her and her family with respect and dignity. I will never use the Co-op again.
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Sorry but this looks just like any other mortuary I have been in. Bodies Stacked. DM, What would you actually suggest they do. Stuff them and hang them from the doors, in a 3 piece suit or nice dress and high heel shoes. Don't be stupid. A completely pointless article. Get a grip.
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