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A son has been left "angry and upset" after he was told to move after comforting his mother at his father's funeral.

Craig Bicknell, from Milton Keynes, said a staff member at Crownhill Crematorium interrupted the service to tell him and his brother to put their chairs back.

He made the decision to sit by his "vulnerable" mother as she was "lost".

Milton Keynes Council, which runs the building, said it was sorry.

Mr Bicknell, 43, said: "I made everyone aware that I [would] need to comfort my mum at some point.

"When I saw my mum break as she did, it just took over that I had to comfort her and put my arm around her."

At the start of his father Alan Wright's service the chairs were set out separately, but he decided to move his to comfort his mother as she was "lost, empty and she was so upset".

When his brother followed suit, an employee rushed in and told them, "you have to put them back, I'm afraid".

"You can't move the chairs, you were told," he added.

Mr Bicknell said the experience had left him "angry, upset; it was just an empty feeling".

"It totally ruined the day," as he still had to deliver his eulogy after the confrontation, so he just moved and carried on so it would not be cancelled, he said.

"It was very hard to do. I need the service to carry on for my dad.

"It was a really scary feeling, I've never felt before."

Milton Keynes Council said: 'We are sorry to have upset this family.

"We don't usually step in if a guest needs to be comforted by another family member and in this instance should have taken a more considered approach.

"We ask funeral directors to let us know whether any chairs should be grouped in advance, and from now on this includes guests who are in the same household or bubbles, as well as people who need extra support."

The current Covid government guidelines allow up to 30 people to attend a funeral, and social distancing must be "strictly adhered to".

Mr Bicknell wants the rule of six to be changed to include people who are not from the same household at funerals so they are "able to comfort each other and not have to worry".

"We know this is the new way of living, we know there are rules to adhere to, but if we can change this, we have achieved something," he said.

He said if this happened it would be in honour of his father.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...herts-54431900

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Sometimes things are just taken too far