Obese Britons too fat to be cremated

London: Rising obesity levels have caused crises in some crematoriums which are finding many coffins are now too big to fit in standard sized furnaces.

Grieving families have been forced to travel for miles across the country to find a crematorium able to accommodate loved ones.

Some councils have been forced to invest up to £130,000 (Dh949,000) in outsize incinerators able to cope with expanding waistlines.

New facility

Among them is Lewisham council, which has ordered a 44-inch furnace from the United States. The new facility has taken corpses from as far afield as the West Midlands and Gloucester. About 430,000 bodies are cremated in Britain each year. Standard coffins are between 16 and 20 inches across, but funeral directors are now supplying coffins which are up to 40 inches across.