A Thames Ditton funeral director wants to ease public concerns over media reports claiming pall bearers might have difficulty carrying the coffins of obese people.
Andrew Lodge, director of G S Keates in Hampton Hill and Lodge Brothers in Thames Ditton, said the tradition of pall bearers carrying coffins would certainly continue.
He said: "My experience at our branches is that while people are certainly getting heavier, this is nowhere near the extent portrayed in some of these scare' stories.
"I would like to allay the fears of readers who may be misled into believing we are no longer able to use pall bearers to carry coffins.
"For the vast majority of funerals we carry out, we still carry the coffin on the shoulders of four pall bearers.
"While we are using six pall bearers more often than in the past, the instances of having to use wheeled biers are still a rarity."
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