A council has been blasted by grieving families after knocking over gravestones due to an apparent "safety risk" associated with the markers.
Families were left shocked after the headstones in Heaton Cemetery, Newcastle-under-Lyme were laid flat and covered in a yellow warning sign.
Newcastle City Council has claimed that they were conducting the work due to "safety concerns".
However, relatives said the graves were "sturdy" and that they were not informed of the changes by the council.
The graves were placed onto one side
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Lawrence Lamb, 76, was one of those who discovered the headstone for his parents, Jane and Jack Lamb, had been knocked over.
The retired ship worker said: "It was devastating to see. We were told nothing about it beforehand, they just knocked it down. And what a time of year to do it too, right before Christmas."
Another person who encountered the same sight was 73-year-old Gerri Monk. Her daughter, Holly Kelleher, 44, said that she did not take issue with the council wishing to deal with unsafe headstones, but added it was "callous and cruel" how the council went about it.
Educational consultant Kelleher said: "The council have made no effort to contact the families.
"They’ll send you a letter for the slightest thing: if your dog’s barking and the neighbours complain or your kids have missed too much school.
"But why they couldn’t have sent a mail merge a few weeks ago about this and warned people it was going to happen is absolutely beyond me. Until someone apologises to my mother, I won’t let this go. She was heartbroken."
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The graves were left on one side
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Derek Armstrong said that the grave of his triplet sons, who died before their first birthday in 1995, was "sturdy" and that there was "nothing wrong with it".
Armstrong, from Walkergate, told the Newcastle Chronicle: "These are people’s memorials, they’re memories."
According to the council, inspections have so far been carried out in Jesmond Old Cemetery, West Road Cemetery and Heaton Cemetery.
Checks are taking place around the country as part of the Health and Safety at Work Act and usually involve a "hand push" test of taller headstones to check their stability.
A spokesperson from Newcastle Council said that inspections had begun in June to ensure cemeteries were "safe places for people to pay their respects and for our staff to work in."
They added: "We understand this is an emotive and sensitive subject but we would like to reassure families that the work is carried out with the greatest respect and sensitivity."
"We always try to contact the last known owner should their headstone need to be repaired but please appreciate this may not always be possible."
