Coffins becoming 'too large to be cremated' amid growing UK obesity crisis
Funeral directors say the industry has been gradually adapting with large coffins to deal with increased obesity
Coffins in the UK are becoming too large to be cremated amid the nation's growing obesity problem, funeral directors have warned.
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Companies are being forced to order wider caskets, take on extra pall-bearers, and use bigger furnaces for cremations.
The revelation comes after LBC revealed 250,000 children in England are leaving primary school either overweight or obese.
Tim Purves, president of the National Association of Funeral Directors (Scotland), said the funeral industry had been gradually changing to deal with increased obesity.
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"We always look after people in a dignified manner and would never cut corners because someone's on the larger side," he told the Telegraph.
"But we are noticing that as a general population people are getting bigger, which adds complications for our role."
Mr Purves, who also runs William Purves, Scotland's largest independent funeral directors, added: "When I started 25 years ago, the standard width of a coffin was 18 inches.
"But now we use a 20in coffin as standard. Occasionally we require a 24in coffin, but there are occasions when we need an even wider coffin than that.
"We have had occasions where the deceased is too large to be cremated, occasions where the family have not been able to have their loved one cremated. Due to the size, they’ve had to have a burial."
Scotland's Inspector of Burial, Cremation and Funeral Directors said there had been a rise in the "handling issues in respect of very large and heavy coffins."
The report, published last month, cited one awkward episode where a coffin resting on a catafalque, or mechanised platform at the front of a crematorium, could not be lowered.
At the end of the service, when the moment came for the casket to disappear slowly out of sight, it was too large.
In October, doctors warned that unless drastic action was taken, more than 150,000 additional Scots will be obese by 2040 and Public Health Scotland (PHS) warned that the crisis is set to get worse in coming years.
Around 1.5 million Scottish adults are living with obesity, PHS said.
The figure is disproportionately higher than other UK nations and among the highest compared with other EU countries.
Dr Grant Wyper, principal epidemiologist at PHS, said: "We estimate 3.3 million cases of adult excess weight by 2040, with more pronounced increases for obesity.
"Between 2025 and 2040, we estimate an additional 118,000 female and 36,000 male cases of obesity."