Grieving pensioner fined £50 at graveside for taking family dog to cemetery

A pensioner was slapped with a £50 fine as she mourned by her father’s grave – because she was with the family dog. Police have defended the action at St Joseph’s Cemetery in Moston, saying they were only following council orders. Val Brogan, 65, was tending the resting place of her late dad James Eyres when she was approached by two police community support officers.

Val – who was with her daughter, Nicola Erlan, and Nicola’s cocker spaniel, Bailey – was told the cemetery had a strict no-dogs policy and slapped with the on-the-spot fine, despite her tearful protests. Val, a retired office worker from New Moston, has complained to the council over her treatment. She said: "They could have given us a warning. We said we wouldn’t have taken the dog in there ever again. We were both upset. We were both crying. Their attitude really upset us. They didn’t care. They weren’t bothered about our feelings at all.



"I think what they did was absolutely disgusting." Val and Nicola, 42, had just placed fresh flowers on the grave of Mr Eyres, who died two years ago aged 88. Val, who has five grandchildren, said: "We noticed them in the distance and we didn’t think anything of it. They came over to us and asked which entrance we had come in. They asked if we had seen the sign saying ‘no dogs’ and of course we hadn’t. We were flabbergasted.

"They told us they were going to fine us and we said: ‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’ But they said no. They saw us crying. I’m absolutely gob-smacked. The dog was on a lead. There’s no way I would allow it on anybody’s grave. I just wouldn’t. I could understand it if the dog was loose, but he wasn’t. Bailey is a well-behaved dog." The council declined to comment on the fine – which has now risen to £80 because Val missed a deadline for payment.