Cheap coffins bought for DIY funerals are being tested for quality – in case they fall to bits during services.
The burial industry has been forced to introduce safety checks because caskets bought online are often so badly made.
Prices charged for funerals – up 62 per cent in a decade to around £4,500 – have seen a huge increase in people trying to give loved ones budget send-offs.
Undertakers are accused of a price-fixing monopoly that sees customers pay “eye-watering amounts” for their services.
But now they warn cut-price coffins, some bought off eBay or assembled from kits in garden sheds, may not be up to the task.
Poor materials and glue mean they may not be strong enough to hold bodies. Some coffins have been dropped because the handles came off or have leaked bodily fluids onto pallbearers.
Jon Levett of the National Association of Funeral Directors said: “Some have proven inappropriate for cremation use or not been constructed to a high enough standard to carry a deceased person with dignity.
“For this reason, coffin accreditation schemes were set up to test against agreed criteria.” The schemes insist on seeing paperwork proving what materials goes into making coffins.
Alun Tucker of the Funeral Furnishing Manufacturer’s Association said families risked the “distressing situation” of a coffin breaking open or a crematorium refusing to take it.
But Fran Hall of The Good Funeral Guide said: “If someone wants to look for a coffin online we are totally behind them.
“The industry has been able to charge eye-watering amounts for coffins that can be purchased at trade prices for a fraction.”
Last year widow Debbie Swales, 52, told of her anguish when husband Gavin’s “solid oak” coffin broke open in Newcastle and turned out to be cheap MDF.
