… to object to the funeral parlour unloading body bags at the end of my street?

[CoralQuoter]

There’s a row of shops at right angles to our street, where the back entrances face onto a small cut through road and the back alley between rows of houses. One of these shops is a funeral parlour, which has recently expanded. They now park two massive hearses in the shared alley, and frequently ask us to move our car so they can fit the hearse through the narrow road if we park there (it’s a public street and the only way we can access the back of our house) They also load and unload body bags (with bodies in!) from the back of the private ambulance in the public street, and my DD4 asks what’s in the bags, which is… not a fun chat? My DS11 hates it and won’t walk round the back as its “too creepy”. Not only this, but they leave bags of rubbish out on the street which the seagulls get into and encourage rats. I’ve tried complaining to the council, but they say the only thing they can do is “register my complaint” with the bin collection service. AIBU to think a small terrace shop isn’t the place to run a funeral parlour from, especially if there’s no room to privately unload body bags?

No, as they don’t biodegrade. But that’s my only objection.

Precisely! A biodegradable wrapping is perfectly acceptable. Not everyone gets buried in a coffin, nor do they need to.

(Except outliers like Marie Curie etc, in a lead-lined box because of radioactivity)

I'm sure they're not transporting bodies in body bags in glass sided hearses?

This must be two issues. Hearse needing more space for access and bodies being moved from private ambulances (vans) into the building. Which they'll do on a stretcher with perfect respect. They're not flinging the bags over their shoulder

Dh always said put him in a cardboard box, so I tried, but a cardboard coffin is £££££ He would have hated that too.

Mum went in a woollen one.

I'm sure they're not transporting bodies in body bags in glass sided hearses?

I think some hearses actually have two spaces for bodies/coffins, the area we see through the glass and a cavity hidden below so it's quite possible that the company doesn't have a van. I don't think the OP has suggested that bodies are being thrown over shoulders?

To many it's 'just a body' to others it's someone's loved one who even after death deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. I'd have hated it if I knew my mum had been wheeled out on the street.

I think if we disregard exactly WHAT is being moved in and out - the building clearly isn't fit for purpose. The parking isn't adequate, access is restricted and loading and unloading can't be done in a convenient way. It shouldn't matter whether it's bodies or sofas, anything that inconveniences local residents, and where industrial waste isn't being disposed of in industrial bins, surely contravenes local council regulations?

It seems as though the business has expanded but hasn't sorted out how to deal with matters arising from the expansion. How did their application to expand look? Can you check through local council records? Because these must have been questions they would be required to answer when they applied for permission to expand, surely?

There's a funeral directors in our high street. I've seen them unloading bodies from private ambulances in full view of everyone passing by and anyone looking out of the flats opposite.

It never occurred to me that some people might be bothered by this.

How else would you move a body?

My neighbours learned DH had died when they saw his body being taken from the house. It was very respectfully done, but couldn't have been done without "wheeling" him in the street.

This

People on here seem to be forgetting that funeral parlours also deal with bodies that have decomposed and are a biohazard. Even in the body bags.

Absolutely disgraceful

Also what about if/when any of the neighbours are grieving? Not very respectful of others is it. Funeral directors are supposed to be respectful all round. Would you want your Mum or partner's body bag to be dragged out, in front an entire street?

I don’t know about Muslim funerals but Jewish people (orthodox) are wrapped in a shroud but absolutely buried in a coffin.

Who's "dragging" the bags?

The rubbish is an issue re rats but I wouldn't be fussed about bodies. I don't think it's especially disrespectful either, although perhaps missed something

Genuine question: why don't people want to see body bags? Graveyards are linked to death, we all die. If your child asks, just change the subject. They're not going to haunt you. I'm not being a dick, I'm just curious

I used to work in a hospital with children. The mortuary was opposite my window. On a freezing cold day, they would sometimes run out of fridge space and leave the deceased on a trolley in full view. I mean with just a blanket over them, not covering their faces. The children used to ask me why the old people weren't cold. It was mostly the elderly. I'd say they had got too hot and were put there to cool down! They totally accepted that as will OP's children with an understandable reason.

Leaving aside the nature of the business,it sounds like they have expanded without taking everything; access, parking, loading, goodwill of neighbours, into account. I doubt the loading of bodies without affording them the dignity Funeral directors usually give them will go down well with families and potentially their governing body. But council first re the bins.

Exactly. My problem isn't with me seeing an anonymous body bag transferred. It's about how I would have felt if I knew that my late husband's body had been transferred this way.

Fortunately I know that the funeral directors that I chose to come and collect him, had a gated driveway to its chapel of rest.

If the lane is a public road it is not your problem the hearse can't get past you.
Refuse to move your car.
Their problem.

Chips from people's shoulders

Who was there first, you or the funeral parlour.

I can’t believe they’d have planning permission to do this - I’d be onto the council to be honest. Carrying bodies over a public street is pretty undignified.

Cue many many 'You should've have thought of that before you bought your house!' comments from the RTFT non-conformers ...