CEMETERY staff buried a Notts man in the wrong grave by mistake.
The family of Karoly Reiter have been left traumatised by the blunder, which saw their father buried on top of another man.
Staff at Wilford Hill Cemetery, West Bridgford, dug a grave for 76-year-old Mr Reiter last week. At the time they did not know there was another, deeper, grave a few feet below occupied by someone else who died in the 1960s.
Mr Reiter, of Lenton, known as Charlie, was buried in the plot last Wednesday after a service attended by his family at the cemetery chapel and then at the graveside.
But the family got a call the next day from staff saying they had realised he had been put in the wrong place.
He will now have to be exhumed and reburied.
Cemetery staff apologised and said checks were made, but records showed the plot was empty.
But the devastated family are furious. Mr Reiter's daughter, Maria Brown, 52, of Beechdale, said: "You see things like this on TV– but you just don't think things like this happen in real life."
"It's an absolute disgrace.
"To put a whole family through this – to lay someone to rest and then be told this has happened.
"We will have to watch him come up again, it's unbelievable."
Nottingham City Council, which runs the cemetery, said there was no headstone marking the original occupant's grave.
Mr Reiter was born in Hungary but moved to Notts in 1956, when he fled fighting in his homeland during the uprising against the former Soviet regime there.
Before retiring he worked for Raleigh and later as a milkman. He was back visiting relatives in Hungary on Sunday, March 24, when he had a heart attack and died.
His devastated family, which includes four children and seven grandchildren, arranged for him to be brought back to Notts for the now botched burial.
Mrs Brown, of Pearce Drive, added: "He was a kind, loving man who would do anything for anyone. If he knew I'd say he'd be turning in his grave, but he's not really in one."
Her husband Tony said he wanted the matter resolved as soon as possible.
The 54-year-old said: "We just could not believe it when we got the call about what had happened. It is something which I have never heard of happening before.
"We had just put him to rest and now the whole process is starting again."
Nottingham City Council's head of parks and open spaces, Eddie Curry, said: "We are very sorry for the upset caused for the family.
"Our records appeared to show the plot which Mr Reiter was buried in was empty, and inspection of the ground, lack of headstone and lack of visits to the site seemed to support this. Even when excavations took place there was still no indication of previous burial.
"Our error was noticed, however, when we came to update historical hand-written ledgers with Mr Reiter's burial, which indicated that someone had been buried lower down in that plot in the 1960s."
