FUNERAL etiquette is dying out in York as people increasingly fail to pay their respects to a passing procession, a funeral director has warned.

Philip Taylor, manager of three funeral homes in the York area for The Co-operative Funeralcare, says more motorists seem unaware of the unwritten rules against breaking into or overtaking funeral processions.

He said his staff were also sometimes being subjected to abuse when they are holding up impatient motorists.

“Twenty five years ago, people were sometimes discourteous but it was unusual,” he said.

“Nowadays, it’s so common that staff just shrug their shoulders.

“A couple of months ago, we were trying to reverse into a cul-de-sac and there were a lot of cars parked and it was narrow so it took a while, and a gentleman was shouting abuse.”

He said mourners were sometimes unaware what was happening but at other times they could not fail to notice, and it could be distressing.

His comments came as research by The Co-operative Funeralcare revealed that generations of people nationwide were unaware of traditional funeral etiquette and showed no courtesy to funeral corteges.

Teenagers and those aged up to their mid-forties were the most likely to be ill-mannered.

The research found that those in their late twenties and early thirties were the most oblivious to funeral traditions and etiquette, such as workers stopping by the roadside as a funeral procession passed by.

Scots remained the most courteous, followed by people in the north of England.

Almost three-quarters of staff say they had witnessed an increase in discourteous behaviour even within the last five years. National operations manager David Collingwood said there had been much talk since the summer riots about attitudes and respect within society and his staff had had seen a significant shift over the years away from people observing the unwritten rules of funeral etiquette.