Son told mum's funeral hearse can't pass family home due to crumbling road

17 August 2023 , 23:53

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Alastair organised a funeral through the Lincolnshire Co-op. File image (Image: Getty Images)

A devoted son has been left furious after being told that his mum's coffin cannot pass their family home of 60 years due to the poor state of the road.

Alastair Robertson, 62, has organised a funeral through the Lincolnshire Co-op for his mum Stella, 98, who died at the end of July. His mum lived in her house on Alexandra Road in Mablethorpe for six decades and brought up six children, including Alastair. The road is known by residents to be in a bad condition, with Alastair describing it as a "rollercoaster" to drive down, reports Lincolnshire Live.

Instead of driving down Alexandra Road and past the house, Alastair says Lincolnshire Co-op has offered to drive the hearse around the block and reverse up the other end of the road. He believes that Lincolnshire County Council should have repaired the road and is disappointed that his mum will now be "reversed down the road like a dustbin lorry".

He said: "[Lincolnshire Co-op] said that they'll go around the block, squeeze through another road and reverse up the end of our road which isn't really ideal. You want a funeral car to come down your road, not backwards.

The condition of the road is poor (Alastair Robertson/Lincolnshire Live)

"If you go down the road in your car it feels like a rollercoaster, I don't know how ambulances and things like that manage. My mother's lived in this house for over 60 years and brought up six children here just to be reversed down the road like a dustbin lorry. What I want to know is why the council aren't repairing it.

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"We're going to be standing there with family and friends and they're going to be trying to reverse it down the road. It's a shame on the council that they've let it get that bad."

The council says that the road is planned for inclusion in next year's schedule of works. Karen Cassar, assistant director of highways at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "We have received three reports about this road in the past year and on each occasion our highways officers have visited the location and assessed its condition.

"As a result of those assessments we have found that there is a subsidence matter with the road itself instead of a more common surface problem appearing. It’s because of the subsidence that there is no way of dealing with it in an urgent way as we would be able to for potholes, for example.

"To remedy this matter will take a major works programme and we are making this scheme active as quickly as possible. It is planned for inclusion in for next year’s schedule of works."

Joe Griffin