Manchester Funeral Director Gets Debt Threats

Funeral Industry News January 18, 2010
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Manchester Funeral Director Gets Debt Threats

imageA Manchester funeral director claims he has received threats his business would be burned down after hiring bailiffs to pursue clients who owe money.

Michael Kennedy, a funeral director for nearly 25 years, said a growing number of families were ordering lavish funerals they could not afford. He said some families reacted badly when he used debt recovery agencies. “Bailiffs have been more or less verbally threatened with assault with weapons,” he said.

Mr Kennedy says that alongside “welfare” funerals where the only mourners are his staff, families are demanding increasingly lavish services – often without the funds.

A recent funeral involved doves, an organist, a soloist, pipers and a horse-drawn hearse at a cost of between