'Our troops should not be in German hearses'
FUNERAL director Harry Mouat forked out for two Rolls-Royces, because he was upset at seeing fallen British troops in Mercedes-Benz hearses.
The 65-year-old spent £130,000 on the new vehicles, which will be used at his Longton-based business, Forrester Brothers of Staffordshire Limited.
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NEW WHEELS: Funeral director Harry Mouat with his new Rolls-Royce hearse. Pictured below, the hearse. Picture: Cara Edgington
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GREAT SHAME: Funeral director Harry Mouat watched the bodies of soldiers returning from Afghanistan pass through the village of Wootton Bassett in Mercedes-Benz hearses.
Mr Mouat said he decided to spend the money on the hearse and limousine after watching the bodies of soldiers being returned to the UK from Afghanistan.
He said: "I was sat there watching the television last year and eight soldiers came back from Afghanistan in one day, and they were all put in Mercedes-Benz hearses.
"I was born during the war and I think it's a great shame that British soldiers are being put in German hearses.
"I think it's wrong to be honest and 20 years ago, there would have been an uprising of ex-British Legion people against it.
"Even the Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent drives around in an Audi. The Lord Mayor is supposedly 'the' person in the city and should be driving around in a Rolls-Royce, or a Bentley."
The Rolls-Royce hearse, believed to be the only one of its kind in Stoke-on-Trent in the past 60 years, has been added to Mr Mouat's fleet.
In addition to his new Rolls-Royce, Mr Mouat has two Mercedes-Benz, which are used as standard by most funeral directors in the Potteries.
Mr Mouat said: "A lot of modern fleet vehicles are Mercedes-Benz and Fords and I just don't think the quality of them is good enough.
"People deserve to be sent off in dignity and you definitely get that with a Rolls-Royce.
"OK, the company might have been bought by Volkswagen, but it is still a truly British car and is a symbol of our country.
Mr Mouat, aged 65, is retiring this year and said he wanted to put something special on the road.
"I like to provide a quality service and this will let people go out with a bang," he said.
"I've had lots of customers tell me they think it's a wonderful idea because having a ride in a Rolls-Royce is something which most people will never get to do in their lifetime.
"This is giving them the chance to have their big send-off in style."
Former Crewe and Nantwich borough mayor Maurice Jones said: "It would be nice to see soldiers put in English hearses, but unfortunately it's the way the industry has gone.
"Rolls Royce set a tradition of engineering in Crewe and employed a highly-skilled workforce which formed the basis of an engineering town, but even Bentley now is German-owned.
"A lot of industry in Britain has been taken over by other countries."
23 Comments
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by theword, penkhull
Thursday, February 11 2010, 1:05PM
“maybe the £130,000 would have been better used as a donation to many of the service charities?”
by Mildred, longton
Thursday, February 11 2010, 12:33PM
“Furthermore to my previous comments the website for Forrester Brothers clearly states and advertises on their front page that they supply a fleet of mercedes cars!”
by mildred Fairbanks, longton
Thursday, February 11 2010, 9:37AM
“How can Mr Mouat critisise german vehicles when he carried out my neighbours funeral who was a german and he did it using a mercedes hearse and two mercedes limosines! this seems like double standards, were not fighting the germans now the war is with Afghanistan and furthermore Mr Mouat says hes the first to bring Rolls Royces into Stoke On Trent When I have had family funerals done from a company near to Uttoxeter who have been using vintage and Rolls Royce hearses for the last ten years in Stoke On trent. Tthis seems to be a cheap publicity stunt on Mr Mouats behalf. I think its disgusting funeral directors are critising other funeral directors when clearly they should be singing from the same hymn sheet and supporting one another working for the greater good of the public. asian people have got the right idea sending their loved ones abroad beacuse with undertakers like this who really can R.I.P........”
by Chris Cooper, Newcastle
Thursday, February 11 2010, 9:09AM
“There¿s German soldiers in those parts serving as well, suppose their countryman aren`t wittering on how their dead get transported to the grave? Only the bigoted ignorant types with gestures like this. Stupid man seem to make the news, I thought I was reading the SUN when I saw the headline, not the Sentinel? Shame on the man and shame on the Sentinel, remind yourselves, the wars over. we are "friends" with Germany now. Had you not noticed? Oh and if the guy wants respect and needs to make a ¿grand¿ gestures maybe he and the Sentinel could organise a collection for those maimed in the war eh? Never mind profiting from it and in some perverse way bringing the ¿germans¿ into the equation
This is a puerile pathetic little war, no business of ours, it won¿t stop International terrorism, its our little ¿Vietnam¿, like the Americans and French there we have to learn we cannot and will not succeed in Afghanistan, the Afghans have been at war since Alexander the great passed through decades ago, we have had a go in the past has had the Russians, leave em to it and get out, its not worth wasting lives on.
As an afterthought how can we declare war on a country like Afghanistan; they have an international Cricket team.”
by Ron, Blythe Bridge
Wednesday, February 10 2010, 9:14PM
“How do you work out he did it for the publicity or free advertising? £130,000 would have bought him a lot of that. This the sentinel site not the TV or the Daily Telegraph”