A FUNERAL director has resigned after failing to ensure that hundreds of pounds collected at a York funeral was handed over to the Salvation Army.

Dignity Funeral Services has launched an investigation into the failure, which happened after the funeral of Brent Woodcock, 41, of York, earlier this year.

A spokesman for the company, owner of J Rymer Funeral Service, which conducted the funeral, said: “The funeral director that was responsible for this charitable collection was Richard Rymer.

“He has now resigned from our employment and it has been explained to him that this incident has been reported to the police.

“This is an ongoing investigation, but to date, we have not found any indication of illegal activity.”

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “We are aware of this incident and police inquiries are ongoing.”

Mr Woodcock’s brother, Dean, of Flaxton, said about 300 people had attended the funeral at York Crematorium in February after his brother had died suddenly in York.

“At the end of the service, people were putting money very generously in the collection plate, which was collecting for the Salvation Army in York,” he said. “Many people were putting fivers and tenners in, and I know at least one person put £50 in. There was so much that the plate was full and some money fell on to the floor.”

He said Mr Rymer had asked him if he wanted him to bag up the money and he had agreed. “When we got to the wake, he asked me what I wanted him to do about the money, and would I like them to put it in the safe, and I said ‘yes please’,” he claimed.

“On the Monday, he rang me and asked me whether I would like him to look after the money and drop it off at the Salvation Army? I said yes, thinking that was how it works.

“I left it at that. He said I would be getting a thank you letter later from the Salvation Army. I never heard anything and I rang Rymers up, and they said the money had been sent.

“The Sally Army looked into it earlier this month and told me they had not had the money. We got in touch with the funeral directors and were told £270 had been found in the back of the safe. When that figure was challenged, we were told it was £480 and when we said it must have been £1,000, we were told they would make it up to £1,000.

“What’s happened has had a devastating effect on my family. It has hit my mum and dad very hard. It has really hurt and upset them. It’s bad enough when you lose your children but this has made it so much worse.”

The Press was unable to contact Mr Rymer but a Dignity spokesman said: “We have informed Richard Rymer that you wished to speak to him and provided your contact details over a week ago so can only presume that he does not wish to comment.”

Dignity statement

DIGNITY Funeral Services said in a statement it had served the people of York since 1848 and generations of families returned to it because of its reputation for excellent client service and care for the deceased.

“We have an established procedure for handling charitable donations but unfortunately it was not followed on this occasion,” said a spokesman.

“Upon learning of the family’s concerns, a senior manager immediately visited the family to apologise and we are conducting a thorough investigation.

“As nobody can be sure of the exact value donated, we have offered the family an amount of money for them to donate to charity which we believe to be greater than that was left at the crematorium.”

He said the firm had an established and audited procedure for charitable donations that had proved to be robust and effective for many years.

“We provide all appropriate members of staff with training on this procedure to ensure they understand and comply with it. Unfortunately, on this occasion this procedure was not followed.”