Heartbroken relatives could face long delays in having loved-ones cremated because of a bungled contract to replace incinerators, Highland Council’s deputy leader claimed last night.
Alasdair Rhind, who is also a funeral director, has blamed council “mismanagement” over a contract to replace the two ageing cremators in Inverness.
Mr Rhind said a backlog in cremations due to shutdowns of one or either incinerator in recent weeks was “causing a terrible build-up,” that would only be compounded over the Christmas period.
And now council officers are asking grieving families to consider having their loved ones’ funeral on a Saturday to beat the back-log.
Mr Rhind said cremations were normally possible within four to six days but the delayed installation meant the timescale had stretched to two to three weeks.
The Ross-shire funeral director said the usual six cremations a day was down to four, leaving a backlog of bodies in funeral parlours.
The deputy council leader added: “This is a serious situation. It’s also a difficult situation, but we’ve got to speak the truth. A contract looks like it’s been mismanaged.
“It’s causing a terrible build-up of cremations. With the Christmas and New Year holidays coming upon us that’s going to compound the situation. We don’t know what the next two weeks are going to bring.
“They were told the work was to start so they cut down the number of cremations for about a month, and no work took place other than some preparatory work outside.
“It was a month wasted. Then they went back to a full schedule, but for the past three or four weeks the work is being done but causing this terrible buildup.”
A spokeswoman for the council confirmed the contract to replace the equipment began on September 24 and was due for completion by the end of March.
She said: “An impact of the project is that one of the two cremators may be unavailable during the contract period but we are ensuring there will be one cremator operational at all times during the length of the contract.”
Asked its advice for bereaved families, she said: “We are ensuring that one cremator is operational at all times during the length of the contract. We are increasing the number of cremations per day that the operational cremator undertakes.
“We would also encourage families to consider cremations on a Saturday when there is less demand for cremations.”
The £500,000 contract to replace the two cremators was awarded to ATI incinerators Muller.
Community services chairman Allan Henderson said in September that the work was “absolutely necessary as the existing facilities are at risk of failure and are very inefficient.”
He added: “I appreciate that losing a loved one is one of the most stressful times of life. However, the council is doing everything in its power to ensure that operations at the crematorium continue as smoothly as possible.”