Cemetery slammed for introducing paid 'VIP pass' for visits

A cemetery in England has come under fire after revealing its plans to charge mourners for a VIP pass to visit their dead family members.

According to the New York Post, the Garden of Remembrance in Stoke-on-Trent has decided to charge mourners an entry fee to protect visitors from "undesirables".

"From January 2025 this site will be protected by electric gates. The gates at the front of the site will open and close automatically at set times. Entrance to the cemetery will be via a VIP pass," a notice at the cemetery read.

Mourners will have to buy a £10 (R230) pass to access the rose garden area and £5 (R115) to visit a loved one's grave or cremation site up until 9pm.

Non-VIP pass holders will not be able to gain entry outside of office hours, which typically end at 5pm, depending on the season. They also won't have access on weekends and bank holidays.

The cemetery's owners hope the VIP pass access will make the site more "secure for our staff, families, and visitors".

"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. The key cards are not coming into force until January 1 because people wouldn’t be happy if we did it before Christmas," owner Jason Taft told Stoke-on-Trent Live.

However, several people have expressed anger at introducing the VIP access pass.

"I’m sorry…..BUT since when should you have to buy a V.I.P card to visit your passed loved ones! This is at the cemetery my dad is at. Garden of Remembrance!! I have come to visit my dad, to be greeted with this… After having to pay a huge amount to even bury Dad here," one woman wrote on Facebook.

Another Facebook user said: "Absolute joke having to be a v.i.p to see my gran! Ridiculous Garden of Remembrance."

A third person commented: "No way! My son's buried there and I like to go after work or at the weekend. This is ridiculous!'

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