Relatives were left distraught after a power cut at a crematorium meant they had no lights and no music.

Worse still, the curtains could not be closed which meant family and friends had to walk past the coffin on their way out of Oxford Crematorium.

Anne Martin, who died on her 74th birthday, was a keen amateur player of the electric organ and had taught others to play.

Her daughter, Carol Clack, 50, of Rose Close, Carterton, had wanted to play recording of her mother's music.

Mrs Clack said: "Her funeral was at 3pm at the crematorium, but we decided to have a service at Carterton church, which I'm very glad we did. We'd arranged for music to be played in and out of the church and in and out of the crematorium.

"We got to the crematorium to be told they'd had a power cut since 11am and there was no heating and no lighting - nothing. "We had a very short committal service, but there was no music. The worst part was that at the end of the service we had to go past my mum's coffin because they couldn't draw the curtains.

"It was very upsetting for quite a few people because we just had to leave her there."

Mrs Clack said she was amazed that the crematorium did not have a back-up electricity supply and failing that, that no-one had thought to come and draw the curtains by hand.

She received a letter from the crematorium offering her £25 compensation 'as a gesture of goodwill'.

Jayne Farrin, of Service Corporation International (SCI), which runs Oxford Crematorium, said the crematorium did not have a back-up power supply as it was noisy.

Ms Farrin said: "We are very sorry that it happened at all, but it was out of our control."

Story date: Wednesday 03 March

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