A GWENT council has reversed its decision to charge double the normal rate to bury a pensioner with his wife - and it's all thanks to the Argus.

Friends of Tommy Harper, who died aged 92 two weeks ago, were stunned after being hit by a £600 fee by Torfaen council for the burial at Panteg Cemetery in Pontypool.

Mr Harper's wife Buddug (known as Brenda) died in 1991 and her grave was designed to be shared with her husband after his death.

The original quote to reopen the grave was £300 - but the figure doubled after Mr Harper was moved to a nursing home outside Torfaen. The cash came from Mr Harper's £2,000 estate, which he left in his will to Ty Hafan children's hospice.

And in the Argus last week friend and former carer Carolyn Parsons, 58, of Cwmcarn, blasted council chiefs for their lack of compassion.

But now Torfaen council has made a U-turn - agreeing to charge only the original fee, and taking steps to make sure that no other grieving friends or relatives will face similar charges.

A spokesman for Torfaen council said: "Following the story in last week's Argus we decided to look at offering concessions with our burial fees.

"If grave rights have previously been purchased but the owner has moved out of the county borough through no fault of their own due to ill health, the standard single fee will apply. If grave rights have previously been purchased but the owner of these rights has lived outside the county borough of their own accord for five years or more, double fees will be charged.

"If a person has lived outside the county borough for one year or more by their own decision and no rights have been purchased, double fees will be charged.

"Having taken into consideration the circumstances of the late Mr Harper, the authority will not be applying the double fees."

Mrs Parsons said: "It shouldn't have happened in the first place, but I must admit I'm over the moon now that they've changed their minds.

"The funeral on Monday was wonderful - we found some relatives over in London who came along. It wasn't a large funeral, there were just a handful of us. They were both wonderful people, they worked all their lives and did a lot to help children. They did everything for children and they wanted their money to go to help children."