Three sisters were distraught after their parents’ graves were desecrated by a car.

Sheila Morris, from Weybridge, said her sister informed her of the destruction after paying a visit to the plot their parents share at Burvale cemetery, Hersham.

Mrs Morris’s sister told her a tyre mark ran right across the grave, with another on the grass, stopping just short of the headstone.

The driver of the vehicle also smashed a solar lamp on the grave and ran over plants that had been laid just two weeks earlier.

Mrs Morris said she had been at the grave days earlier and believed the damage happened over the weekend of Saturday, June 22.

She said: “We were and still are very upset that someone could desecrate our mum and dad’s grave by driving across it smashing plants and the lamp, they must have known they done it as the car would have gone down a dip and the headstone would have been almost touching their bumper.

“Then to drive off without trying to put it a bit right they must have no respect for the dead. “We hope no one ever does that to their family grave.”

The grave is next to a footpath about 20ft from the main road through the cemetery and Mrs Morris said the driver must have been trying to do a three-point turn.

Mrs Morris said: “The lamp only cost about £5 and the plants about £20, but that is not the issue.

“However much they cost they were put on there for our mum and dad, by their children and somebody has just recklessly ran all over them and our mum and dad. It is very upsetting.”

An Elmbridge Council spokeswoman apologised for the distress caused to Mrs Morris and her sisters and said they had received a complaint about the damage.

The spokeswoman said: “There is no CCTV in this area so we cannot know for sure what happened. Although most drivers use the cemetery car park and walk to their loved one’s graves, there are a few of our visitors who have difficulty walking or have plants etc on board and need to drive as near as possible to their loved one’s grave.

“We suspect that this happened in this situation and the damage was accidental.

“Cars are allowed in the cemetery (5 mph) and normally keep to the wider road areas.

“This is an extremely rare incident but we have asked our cemetery custodian to keep a close eye on this area.”