I’m forced to pay £5 ‘VIP’ pass to visit my own dad’s GRAVE – they’re profiting off grief & treating mourning like a gym
A DISTRAUGHT daughter blasted an “absolute joke” of a cemetery for a £5 extra charge to visit her dad’s grave.
Jode slammed the Garden of Remembrance, in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, for the one-off fee as she already forks out £65-a-year for maintenance.
Her father, Mark ‘Sparky’ Bourne, passed away in February 2023 and is buried in the cemetery on Spring Garden Road.
But to visit his grave before 9am or after 5pm, Jode has to pay an additional £5.
And, it’s a hefty £10-per-person to visit the rose garden outside of office hours.
The 32-year-old told Stoke-on-Trent Live: “I buried my dad in the Garden of Remembrance last year. I work full-time and so does my younger brother.
“I don’t understand how they can charge people, haven’t they already been through enough losing a loved-one – why would you do that?
“They’re making money off the dead, you shouldn’t have to pay to see your loved-ones, and to call it a VIP pass is so insensitive. It’s an absolute joke.”
The grieving daughter said the church was full for her “very well known” father’s funeral.
She branded the £5 charge “disrespectful to the dead”.
“I would have chosen somewhere else but they sold it to us. Now they’re adding VIP passes – it’s not a gym,” Jode added.
Cemetery owner Jason Taft said the graveyard is open from 9am to 5pm in the winter, and until 7pm in the summer.
Whereas pass-holders can go in until 9pm every night.
The owner explained how he’s had to shell out £8,000 for more security.
He has also given 90 free passes to vulnerable customers.
Jason said: “There are 1,300 graves and we could not send that many keys out so people can come and get a card if they want one.
“We are not locking people out and this gives them access to the cemetery until 9pm when we would normally be closed.
“People can know it’s safe when they’re visiting and they’ll be safe from undesirables breaking in now.”
He added how the key card system will begin on January to keep families happy across Christmas.