Super-Size Coffins becoming the norm
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A coffin maker revealed that the demand for extra large caskets is set to increase every year as Britain's obesity crisis continues.
Steven Mitchell, from Essex, founder of funeral comparison website Compare The Coffin, appeared on Dr Michael Mosley's latest documentary Who Made Britain Fat?, which aired on Channel 4 last night.
He revealed to the doctor that around 15 to 20 per cent of their coffins need to be 23 inches wide, and that the size of caskets has to increase every year to accommodate larger bodies.
Traditionally, old crematoriums would be either 30 or 33 inches wide, meaning an extra large coffin would just about squeeze into the larger crematorium. The biggest coffin Steve has had to build is 39 inches, and he says that with larger caskets comes larger burial plots, meaning an additional fee of around £400- £500 for family members.
'When I'm speaking to people, quite often the widest part of the person is no longer the shoulders [it's their waist]', said Steve, 'I'm having to have a very difficult conversation with the family about what size coffin you want to use. 'If you want a burial plot for an oversize person you are paying usually an additional fee, around about £400, £500 extra.'
However, according to the programme, crematoriums are now having to plan for the future and are rebuilding at 46 inches wide.