BEREAVED families were unable to have their loved ones cremated in York while maintenance work was carried out on the furnaces of the city's crematorium.

Those wanting a cremation rather than a burial have had to send the coffins to Leeds, 26 miles away, to be cremated.

The funeral services still went ahead at York Crematorium so nothing would have appeared different to funeral guests.

But once the coffins had moved behind the crematorium's closed curtains they were whisked off to Leeds.

The cremations then took place at Leeds Crematorium and the ashes were brought back to York.

Expensive work to re-line the inside of the furnaces began two weeks ago and all three furnaces were affected. One is now back in operation and the other two are expected to be up-and-running again next week.

One worker at a York funeral director's, who did not want to be named, said: "They've been holding the services in York, then sending the bodies off to Leeds to be cremated. It's ridiculous.

"Some families have been a bit upset when we've told them. It's a difficult enough time for them as it is and you'd like to think your loved one was cremated in their home city."

But a City of York Council spokeswoman said the change of venue had taken place with families' consent.

She said: "We are in the process of re-lining the cremators and have had to make alternative arrangements until this work is complete.

"This was done with the consent of the funeral directors and the families involved. We have one cremator back in operation and normal service will resume shortly."

She added: "The council made sure it sought approval from local funeral directors and the bereaved families because it was such a sensitive issue."

Richard Rymer, of Rymer J Funeral Services, in Penleys Grove Street, York, said delays had been minimal.

He said: "We haven't had any delays this week at all, but we were affected during the early part of last week.

"We made sure they were all aware of the situation and knew what was happening. Fortunately we have had a lot of burials, but not many cremations in the last couple of weeks, so it hasn't affected us too badly.

"There was no serious disruption and we had no complaints from families. From their point of view everything happened as usual."

The Evening Press told how bereaved families had to travel to crematoriums in Leeds, Harrogate and Octon, in East Yorkshire, when services at York were halted while improvements were carried out in May 2004.

Updated: 11:31 Monday, March 27, 2006