WORRIED Liberal Democrat Gordon Lishman has urged the Government to act to stop multi-million dollar American funeral corporations preying on the bereaved and elderly.

The party conference in Brighton overwhelmingly backed a tough new licensing and regulatory structure for undertakers.

Burnley man Mr Lishman - a worker with Age Concern - called for a review of the work of coroners' offices, a funeral services Ombudsman and a new duty on councils to run, maintain and protect cemeteries.

He warned of the dangers of US firms moving in and buying up traditional local funeral directors and the growth of pre-paid funeral plans. He said: "Make no mistake, the funeral business is big, nearly £1 billion a year.

"Sales have boomed through sophisticated marketing and high pressure selling.

"In recent years, American corporations have invested some £400 million in buying into our funeral industry.

"Americans spend twice as much on funerals as the British and the American way of death is renowned as a slick, glossy, high-pressure sales exercise."

He added: "Paying a lump sum in advance for your funeral at a fixed price seems a sensible idea, but not when, come the day, your relatives find they have to use a funeral parlour owned by the plan seller - a parlour often many miles away from your home.

"It's not sensible when they find the plan only covers the basic costs and that church services, graveyard plots, headstones are all added extras."

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