Wick widow (89) was told she couldn’t get cemetery access code
A Wick widow with limited mobility was dismayed to be told that the vehicle access code for the town’s cemetery was no longer being given out.
The 89-year-old uses a walking stick and finds it increasingly difficult to make her way around the graveyard on foot.
She was “very unhappy” that she and her son were unable to get into the cemetery by car one day last week.
There are gates at the top and bottom of the cemetery for pedestrians and wheelchair users. In between, two other entrances are wide enough for vehicles.
Earlier this year, however, concern over damage being caused by cars led to tighter restrictions being introduced. Car drivers would only be able to get in by asking staff at the Highland Council service point in Wick for the four-digit code to a combination padlock.

The woman and her son say they were told at the service point that the code could not be given to them. They were advised instead to drive up to the cemetery and a member of staff would open the gate.
The woman’s husband died in 2019. She has asked not to be named.
“I am now struggling to walk far in the cemetery,” she said. “I’ve got a walking stick to give me more support.
“Since they have locked the gates I can no longer visit all the graves I wish to. I even struggle to visit my late husband’s grave, and it is quite near a gate.
“At the service point my son was told to go to the cemetery and a member of staff would let us in. Unfortunately there has been no-one there to let us in.
“There will be a lot more people like me this applies to.
“It’s not really fair to people that are refused the number. We feel that everybody should be treated the same.
“Can the council not arrange for the gates to be open at set times for people like me who wish to visit their loved ones’ graves?”
Her son was informed that a headstone had been damaged by a vehicle. “Somebody was supposed to have reversed into it,” he said.
“So she [a service point assistant] said, ‘If you go up to the cemetery and see one of the workers, they’ll let you in.’
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“I went up and, just to check, I went to where the toilet is and they have their little workroom. But the only time you’ll see a council worker there is if they are opening up a grave. That tends to be it.
“That day, mum had to stop three times. When it’s windy, I’m the windbreak – if we’re walking in the cemetery and the wind is coming from Thrumster, I’ve got to walk in front of her.”
He added: “If there was a headstone damaged, I can understand the family would be upset and the council would have to replace it or repair it.
“It just seems strange to say, ‘Just go up to the cemetery, there will be somebody there...’ Not really.”
However, Highland Council later indicated that there had been no change of policy on giving out the access code.
A spokesperson at council HQ said: “I’ve spoken to the service and they have confirmed that the service point will continue to hand out the code for the gate on request, but also noted that we cannot guarantee a member of staff will be on site to assist with access because of reduced resources.”
She said the information would be passed on to the local team “so to avoid confusion in the future”.
Moves to limit vehicle access at the cemetery were outlined by Highland Council leader Raymond Bremner at the March meeting of the Royal Burgh of Wick Community Council.
Councillor Bremner, who represents Wick and East Caithness, said at the time: “We’ve mentioned it before, vehicle access to that cemetery is causing untold damage.
“We’ve talked about immediate restriction of access to the cemetery because we can’t afford the damage.
“They’re reversing onto the graves, they’re now damaging lairs, there has been damage to headstones. There has been little respect in terms of the speed that some folk are doing in there, so they are looking at restricting access.
“You would get the code for the lock at the service point. We’re thinking that maybe it would be people who genuinely need access that would go to the bother of getting that access code.”
Councillor Bremner emphasised that mobility scooters and wheelchairs would still be able to go in through the other gates.
“It is the vehicles that are causing the damage,” he told the meeting.