GRIEVING sisters have been left furious after they were fined £200 for taking 48 seconds too long to say goodbye to their late dad.
Hayley James and Mandy Pinney had asked to have a few minutes to bid a final farewell to their father Terry Jones before closing the curtain at his funeral.
But the pair said they were horrified to be fined for going not even a minute over – even though it was the last slot of the day and no one was waiting at the Grimsby Crematorium.
Hayley told Grimsby Live: "To be fined for going over just a few seconds just seems so petty and callous."
She added: "After the main service my sister and I wanted to touch dad's coffin one last time and close the curtain.
"Staff at the crematorium watched us. We were taken to the coffin by the funeral director and they watched us the whole time. I could understand it if we were five or 10 minutes over our time. But just by seconds is petty and disrespectful.
"If they are going to time people and impose fines for going over by just a few seconds, how do they know whose watch is right?"
Former Colin Chamley Big Band musician Mr Jones had died earlier this month, aged 87.
He was also a renowned French polisher and had many clients throughout northern Lincolnshire.
The sisters said they had been delighted that so many people had turned out to pay their respects for the June 18 funeral.
And they were taken back into the crematorium to say a final farewell to their dad by funeral director, Embersons.
But the company then received an invoice from North East Lincolnshire Council, which runs the crematorium, to say £200 extra had to be paid as a penalty for the 48 second overlap. The fine was then passed to the sisters.
It comes after an FOI revealed six families were fined for over running funerals by less than two minutes.
There were 20 fines imposed, totalling £4,000 over a 21-month period.
Grieving Hayley, of Cleethorpes said: "I know they are a business and they need to organise times for everyone using the crematorium every day. But for us this is the only time in our lives we have to do it. We wanted to spend just a few last moments with our dad because the funeral service was so full. So we went back very briefly at the end.
"We checked with a member of staff who was watching our every move, to ascertain whether we had enough time to do this. He said we had a couple of minutes."
As well as over running services, fines are imposed for failure to start a service on time.
Councillor Keith Brookes, Con Haverstoe told Grimsby Live: "I want to make sure we no longer have funerals that penalise families."
He added: "It seems there is no humanity or sympathy."
North East Lincolnshire Council has been contacted for comment.
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