York has emerged as one of the most expensive places in Britain to die.

The cost of being cremated is the highest in the land according to an Evening Press survey.

York tops the cost table after the city council raised crematorium fees by almost 15 per cent in the last budget.

The price of standard cremations in York is £310, almost quadruple the £79 it cost in 1987.

Even in trendy London boroughs like Kensington and Islington, where the cost of living is high, the cost of dying is about £50 cheaper, for cremations.

Kate Edwards, of the Funeral Standards Council, which represents funeral directors, said its members were being put in a difficult position by the authorities that set cremation fees. She said: "They have to explain to families who have suffered a bereavement why the cost is so high."

One funeral director, who operates near York, said: "I am actually embarrassed. Although cremation fees are just one part of the cost of a funeral, it all adds up and vulnerable people are unlikely to complain. The council puts the prices up, so the funeral director has to put prices up too. We are the ones getting the blame."

He said families did not in practice have much choice. "They are not going to go to Harrogate just to save a few pennies," he said.

Another funeral director, Richard Rymer, of Rymer's in Penleys Grove Street, York, said: "People usually want to have their relatives cremated at the same place and have the same service as other family members, even if it is years later."

According to figures from the Cremation Society of Great Britain - updated for 1998 by the Evening Press - York Crematorium charges a higher standard fee than anywhere else.

The second most expensive place is Edinburgh, at £300, followed by Perth, at £290. Among the cheapest is Bangor, in Wales, at £97.

In the region, prices vary considerably, with cremation fees at £231 in Harrogate, £205 in Leeds, £275 in Hull, £190 in Darlington, £230 in Scarborough and £180 in East Riding of Yorkshire.

The Funeral Standards Council said the average cost of a funeral in Yorkshire and Humberside was £1,195 for cremations - nine per cent above the national average - and £1,632 for burials.

The City of York Council blamed the high cost of cremations in the city on the Environmental Protection Act.

Andy Hudson, head of environmental health said: "We probably are more expensive but we totally renewed our crematorium a couple of years ago at a cost of £1 million. We had to buy new equipment to comply with new emission control levels in the Environmental Protection Act.

"Other crematoria may not have done this yet so would not have had to put up their charges."

Most expensive: York: £310

Edinburgh: £300

Perth: £290

Friockheim: £288.50

Hull: £275

Glasgow: £270

Paisley: £262

Beckenham, London: £255

Golders Green: £255

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.