High Wycombe family 'devastated' after graves knocked by driver

Vervina Thomas was buried at High Wycombe Cemetery on 15 November 2019

A family has been left "devastated" after a car knocked into their grandmother's grave.

Pamela Haywood, 41, said Vervina Thomas's memorial stone and flowers had been hit at High Wycombe Cemetery.

"It's a point of disrespect - you lay your loved ones there and you don't expect anything like this to happen", she said.

Buckinghamshire Council said it was looking at measures to restrict vehicles on grass areas.

High Wycombe Cemetery is maintained by Buckinghamshire Council

As reported in Bucks Free Press, Qamar Aziz, 29, from the town, saw a car driving in the graveyard on Wednesday which "accidentally skidded on to four graves".

He visits his father's grave daily and said: "Any car can go in - it was just parked in the wrong place.

"I told the driver not to park there as this may end up happening.

"This has happened before and it will keep on happening until the authorities take notice."

Ms Haywood said she was "absolutely appalled [and] angry" as her grandmother's headstone had only recently been put up for the first anniversary of her death.

"We're coming up for Mother's Day, our second without her, [and] we're quite emotional about it," she said.

"The headstone was knocked, it has shifted a little bit and the gravel and the flowers were knocked about, either by the car or them trying to get the car out."

The council apologised and said contractors had now tidied the graves and replaced items that had been moved.

"Our cemetery officer has spoken to the grave owners who we have been able to get hold of, or who visited the site," said a spokesman.

"We are looking at measures to restrict parking or driving on the neighbouring grass areas however we will need to maintain access for our contractors to prepare graves and to maintain the site."