FUNERAL waiting times in North Ayrshire are ‘scandalous’, according to one of the biggest funeral directors in the west coast of Scotland.

While North Ayrshire Council insist there are no issues with a waiting time of approximately six days for a burial, evidence points to waiting times two weeks and over.

And this has been the same since early December, according to Paul Stevenston.

The Saltcoats-based funeral director said there was no excuse for the waiting times and the six day period the council say is currently the average waiting time is “p**h”.

Paul said: “It’s been getting worse since before Christmas.

“The problem is the staffing levels at North Ayrshire Council and people can register a death anywhere in Scotland now so there is no excuse.

“There is also a pulling system where they will randomly stop and review registrations and this results in about one in 20 being pulled and the review level one takes 24-hours. This will also have an effect.”

Funeral notices in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald and Irvine Times show that those who have most recently deceased will not be laid to rest until three weeks after their death. This seems to be a common occurrence with church websites also showing waiting times over more than 14 days – a figure which Paul Stevenston agrees with.

He added: “It’s about two weeks at the moment. It had eased slightly but it is shocking.

“We can cope with it at the moment but it is the bereaved families that it has an affect on.

“The council will tell you they have no money but there are people off sick and holiday too.

“They are the worst council in the UK I have to deal with.”

North Ayrshire Council say that a backlog always occurs around the festive period and that issues arise due to their registration services operating on reduced hours.

Paul agrees but says there is more to it.

He added: “It will happen again at Easter but there is a bigger picture here.

“It’s now the first week in February at the earliest for funerals and this can’t change because of staff - they are in a rut.

“We had two days last week with no funerals and this was because North Ayrshire Council couldn’t take us.”

North Ayrshire’s guidelines state that funerals can be arranged within 48-hours but Paul Stevenston said he has not held one at this time frame for at least a year.

A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “January is traditionally the busiest month for funerals.

“With the registration services operating on reduced hours over the Christmas and New Year period, this can, unfortunately, generate a backlog and funerals may take a little longer to be held.

“At the moment, we are working hard to ensure any waiting is minimised and the current waiting time is approximately six days, which we expect to reduce further in the coming days and weeks.

“The only exception to this is at our busiest cemetery, Knadgerhill in Irvine, where we are experiencing a waiting time of approximately two weeks.

“We are holding one service in the morning and one in the afternoon due to the high volume of requests.

“We believe it would be disrespectful to families to hold multiple funerals at the same time.”

North Ayrshire Council have said that the waiting time has since reduced to five days.