Relatives who complained about Charing Crematorium collecting flowers daily have welcomed a decision to pick up tributes twice a week.

Managers have backtracked on their daily collection decision after the Kentish Express featured a number of reports of distraught relatives who complained that the daily pick ups were unfair to both them and their loved ones.

One, Christine Sims, said: “It’s fantastic news, I feel like crying.”

Crematorium general manager Steve Robinson said the policy had always been to clear tributes away each day but that had lapsed over the past few years, and led to criticisms of untidyness.

“We therefore tried to return to the company policy but this has led to very strong protest from a small number of people who regularly leave flowers at the crematorium in memory of loved ones.

“We will in future collect flowers and tributes twice a week except, as before, in the case of Christmas when they will be left until the New Year.”

~For full story and more reaction, see this week’s Kentish Express, out on Thursday.