THE true cost of dying is laid bare in research by the Advertiser that shows families will have to fork out up to £5,000 to bury their loved ones in Croydon.
There are currently no fresh burial plots available at council-owned cemeteries within the borough, with the only option being to dig fresh graves on top of existing ones.
The only alternatives are to fork out for a private burial or travel outside the borough.
This week Croydon was branded one of the most expensive places in the country to be buried. Although the council has branded GMB's research as "highly misleading" its own figures show the cost of burial – even in a "reclaimed" grave has doubled in the last decade.
Croydon Council runs three cemeteries but the only one with any fresh graves is Greenlawn Memorial park which actually lies over the border in Warlingham and does not allow upright grave stones.
To be buried in a public plot within Croydon the only option is to secure a reclaimed grave – one that has been empty for 75 years. Even then these plots can be secured only for 50 years, after which another body can be buried on top and the headstone removed.
"I would encourage [people] to look at other options beyond Croydon, or even beyond London," said member of the Centre for Death and Society, Dr Kate Woodthorpe.
Dr Woodthorpe insisted that although people also need to do what they feel is right, which could involve burying their dead close to home, the high costs and lack of space were driving people away from the capital.
A Government report from 2011 described Croydon's cemetery status as critical, stating that "virgin space" in local authority cemeteries was "likely to be exhausted in the next ten years".
Lambeth, Tower Hamlets and five other inner-city boroughs are the only boroughs to be considered to be in worse straits.
These central areas are listed as "full", often with no burial space left at all.
Gary Bruce, general manager of Whitehorse Road-based Rowland Brothers, said while he could see the justification for increasing prices "what we find disappointing is the wide disparity in charges even within a ten-mile radius".
Dignity also owns several private cemeteries with fresh graves that Croydon residents can opt for, but prices are significantly steeper.
At Streatham Park, a non-pathside grave for one or two bodies sells at £4,410. A pathside plot is £5,513.
"In the end there'll be no plots to bury people in and they are going to have to buy more land," said Luke Dighton, of East Croydon funeral directors J.B. Shakespeare.
According to the council, only one in five families from Croydon elect fresh graves over reclaimed ones.
"Most people have cremation services," emphasised Mr Dighton.
"A lot of people then end up picking up the container and either keeping it in the house or scattering it" rather than burying ashes.
"I tell families to get a nice tree from B&Q and plant it in their garden with the ashes.
"Then you can have a lovely tree going on to remind you of mum or dad."
