More than 1,500 people have backed a grieving widow’s campaign to stop tourists blocking access to an island cemetery.
With its stunning white sands and crystal clear waters, Harris’s Luskentyre Beach is rated as one of the best in the world.
Thousands of tourists flock to the beach during summer months.
As Luskentyre is also the home of the island’s main cemetery, the crowds are causing problems for islanders trying to pay their respects.
Now Harris woman Lynne Mackay, who lost her husband Calum to cancer in April, has launched an online petition on the Change.org site.
It simply calls to “stop the parking of motorhomes and cars in designated cemetery spaces”.
Luskentyre Beach car park is ‘tiny’
The cemetery car park has an adjoining car park for the beach. But Lynne says this is “tiny”.
Motorhomes and cars regularly spill into spaces meant for cemetery visitors.
While this is upsetting in itself, she says beach-goers often hang wetsuits and towels on the cemetery fence.
Which she feels is “beyond disrespectful”.
Islanders agree. Lynne’s petition has been signed by more than 1,535 people.
The 50-year-old moved to Harris from Oban 14 years ago when she married islander Calum.
Devastated by her loss this year, she started visiting Calum’s grave every second day. The cemetery is a 20-minute drive from her home in Tarbert.
But as the summer weather started coming in, so did the tourists.
She said: “You can’t get a parking space anywhere due to camper vans and cars taking up spaces meant for people using the cemetery.
Signs clearly state ‘spaces are reserved for cemetery patrons only’
“There are signs which clearly state that the spaces are reserved for cemetery patrons only.
“I’m told it has been like this for years. I didn’t know about it. You don’t find out about these things until you are in the situation yourself.”
Lynne said that she and other cemetery users are being treated with disrespect by tourists.
She said: “I blocked someone’s car when I had to park by the gate as there were no other spaces. I was only five minutes but I had two men shouting asking how long I was going to be.”
Lynne felt insult was added to injury when she was met by a woman undressing her children in the car park.
“The towels were hanging over the fence. It was like a changing room.”
And she added: “These people wouldn’t like that if their loved ones were in that cemetery.
“The whole thing was disrespectful and upsetting.”
What is Western Isles Council saying about the situation?
Harris Councillor Grant Fulton said: “I have been contacted by numerous people about the same issues. We really need to get it resolved.”
Councillor Fulton is in the process of setting up a meeting for cemetery users.
He added: “People seem to have a different mindset as soon as they come up here.
“Would this happen if the cemetery was in Glasgow, Edinburgh or even Oban? I don’t think so.”
A spokesman for Western Isles Council said: “Luskentyre beach consistently features on lists of the best beaches in the world which naturally draws high numbers of visitors.
“Visitors to Luskentyre Beach should follow all instructions given by signage.”
Are you interested in more exclusive and breaking Highland and Islands news from The P&J? If so, why not join our dedicated Facebook page.
