Councils 'wasting millions on gravestone topple tests'

Local authorities across Britain wasted nearly £1 million performing "topple tests" on gravestones after taking an "overzealous" approach to health and safety standards, it has emerged.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws revealed that 118 councils tested cemetary graves to ensure they were not in danger of falling over and injuring a passer-by.

More than £1.65 million was spent carrying out the tests over the past two years.



Research suggested that up-to one million gravestones may have failed to pass.

Headstones deemed to be unsafe are shored up by a process known as "staking", in which wooden stakes are driven into the ground next to the headstones to prevent them toppling over.

One woman, Mavis Fields, claims the gravestone of her first husband at Retford Cemetery, Worksop, was damaged by topple tests. She said Bassetlaw council only removed the stakes which had been placed there after she agreed to pay repair costs of £112.