AN UPSET Port woman has pleaded with the council to take better care of the cemetery - after finding her mother's gravestone covered in grass on the anniversary of her death.

Marilyn Cameron says that she was left distraught when she went to visit her mum Elizabeth's final resting place nine years after her death in the Port Glasgow Cemetery.

By her graveside she found old grass cuttings strewn all over the stone and covering the memorial ornaments.

Marilyn returned later in the day to clean it up herself.

Marilyn,from Auchenbothie Road said: "I was just so upset. There is no need for it to be like this. They could cut the grass and take the cuttings away.

"Instead they just leave them to blow around. The grass isn't even cut right. Can't they show more respect?

"All we are asking is for them to take some care. But it feels like they don't care."

Marilyn's mum Elizabeth died in May 2009 aged 87 and ever since she has tended the grave.

But she added: "It is getting worse and with all the cuts it won't get better."

Marilyn says she has repeatedly complained about the state her mum's grave is left in after grasscutting, along with her cousin Alastair Laing.

He visits his wife Judith's grave in the cemetery a couple of times a week.

Mr Laing said: "It isn't right.

"We have complained I don't know how many times.

"But all we get are excuses."

They say more effort should be taken to make sure the grass is even and presentable.

An Inverclyde Council spokesman said: “Anyone with a lawn will know how fast grass can grow at this time of year.

"We are carrying out our usual cycle of cutting and strimming in the cemetery and make every effort to minimise the spread of clippings but most people appreciate – given the scale of the task and the length of the grass – that we cannot clear them all.”