'Frustrated' pensioner slams WNC after lawnmower driver 'smashes' 'lovely' woman's £3,000 memorial in Northampton cemetery – and it still hasn't been fixed nine months later
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Lynn-Marie Bates, 72, says her mother-in-law’s £3,000 memorial at Kingsthorpe Cemetery was damaged by a council worker driving a lawnmowing truck in May 2024, just two weeks after it was erected.
Lynn says WNC admitted liability in August but has not yet paid for it to be fixed by Blenkharn Monumental Sculptors, based in Earls Barton.
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Hide AdShe said: “I’m very annoyed. The memorial cost £3,000. Two weeks after it was put in, they smashed it with one of their grass-cutting trucks.


“We were on our way back from Skegness when the cemetery called us and said, ‘We’re so sorry, one of their trucks has hit your mum’s gravestone.’ It’s smashed and out of place.
“WNC admitted liability in August 2024. That was five or six months ago, and they still haven’t paid to have it fixed. I’ve been calling them, and they’re not answering. I was told they would pay last Friday (January 31) to have it repaired, but they still haven’t given the go-ahead.
"I’m so frustrated with it all. She was a lovely woman. My husband was her only son, and he just doesn’t like going up there now because it’s still not repaired. He’s upset.”
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Hide AdIt is believed the cost to fix the memorial is just over £1,000.


A WNC spokeswoman said: “Work to repair the damaged headstone is due to be carried out in the coming weeks following engagement with the original stone mason, and we will continue to ensure that Mrs Bates is kept up to date on the progress.”
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