A grieving woman claims she was forced to "touch her father's ashes" after "a mistake" was made following his funeral.

Samantha Chivers, 51, from Conyer in Kent, recently lost her father Alan after a short and sudden illness.

Mr Chivers was 76 years old and living in Bromley when he became unwell, but the funeral was held at Honor Oak Crematorium because he had so many friends and family in that area.

He had spent about a month in hospital but developed a kidney infection and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Samantha said it all happened so suddenly and it was a huge shock to lose a parent so quickly.

Mr Chivers was cremated on August 31 and the family asked for his ashes to be distributed into three caskets that would be picked up from the crematorium.

A friend of the family collected the ashes but Samantha says that when the box was opened she found the ashes hadn’t been distributed into separate containers and instead arrived in a "ripped paper bag".

Samantha said: “It was already a distressing time. This was meant to be my final moment with my father and then this happened.

“There was a rip in the bag so when we opened the box I accidentally put my fingers into my father's ashes.”

Samantha said that she called Co op Funeralcare directly to rectify the problem, the company offered to send a courier to pick up her father's ashes, but Samantha wanted this sorted immediately.

Employees from Co op travelled to Samantha's house and distributed the ashes into separate receptacles.

Samantha continued: “It was absolutely horrible knowing that this mistake had been made and now they were pouring him into different containers in my house.”

The family was then offered a £50 donation to charity as an apology.

A spokeswoman for Co-op Funeralcare said: “We would again like to apologise to Ms Chivers and to her family for the upset caused.

“Every crematorium has their own, individual process for the returning of ashes into our care. It is standard procedure for this local crematorium to hold ashes in a sealed container within a secured box.

"Where families don’t choose from our own range of caskets, we’ll also provide an additional container ensuring ashes are kept safe at all times.

“We are however sorry that we failed to follow the family’s wishes to distribute Mr Chivers’ ashes when we were first asked.

“We have met with Ms Chivers and her family to apologise directly and we’ve since carried out their wishes by distributing Mr Chivers’ ashes into three of our own caskets.”