A GRIEVING Bolton mother still stunned by the death of her teenage son was sent a shock bill for his emergency treatment - while his body was still in the hospital mortuary.

Phyllis Grundy was horrified when she opened a bill demanding payment after her son had been pronounced dead on arrival at Wigan Hospital following a car crash. Dated two days after David Ashton, aged 19, was killed, the bill for £42.60 was sent out while his body was at the hospital awaiting a coroner's report.

Deeply distressed Mrs Grundy, who has remarried, branded the bill from the hospital NHS trust as "sick".

It was addressed personally to David, asking him for payment for his own treatment and that of family friend Charlotte Lane, who was injured in the crash last Tuesday night.

Wigan Hospital trust bosses have now hurriedly drafted a letter to Mrs Grundy expressing regret at the mistake.

They were launching an investigation into how the error occurred.

Mrs Grundy, who lived with her mechanic son in their Rowan Avenue flat in Horwich, said: "It was just sick. It was awful, we hadn't even buried the poor lad and they were asking us for money for treating him.

"They didn't even get the address right. Are they that hard-up for a few quid they have to go to bereaved relatives?"

His funeral is at Ridgmont Cemetery, Horwich, on Friday.

David had been acting as Good Samaritan by giving a lift to Charlotte, aged 15, from Wigan, after she was stranded in Horwich.

David was driving along Wigan Road, Aspull, with Charlotte last Tuesday night when his Vauxhall Nova went out of control and hit a tree head on. The former Rivington and Blackrod pupil died at the scene.

Charlotte suffered a broken jaw and was let out of Wigan Hospital after a few days.

Emergency

But the hospital sent out a bill dated last Wednesday - less than 48 hours after the accident - demanding £21.30 each for David and Charlotte's hospital treatment.

The bill describes how the hospital has the legal right to ask for money following a road traffic accident "out of which bodily injury arises". It states the cost is to cover "emergency treatment or examination" by the health authority.

Mrs Grundy added: "The day I got the bill was the worst day I have had. I was going demented.

"I wouldn't have minded if they had waited a few weeks, but to get it like that so soon afterwards was dreadful."

She also feels let down by the aftercare provided by emergency services. She said: "I was just given some leaflets with the numbers of bereavement counsellors on.

"I wasn't really told how David died. We think he died of internal injuries and chest injuries but no one told us at the time.

"I had to find out myself what happened. At least I know now that he died very soon after the accident, which means he didn't suffer."

The family was coming to terms with the brutal killing of close relative Mrs Ann Walls, who was battered to death in her home a few weeks before last Christmas by her ex-fiancee Robert Crompton.

Mrs Walls, 55, was the mother-in-law of David's sister Kim, and died after being hit over the head with a vase and a concrete dog. Crompton, 43, was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter in November.

Veronica Swinburne, spokesperson for Wigan and Leigh Health Services NHS Trust, said the trust would make a personal apology to Mrs Grundy over the mix-up in sending her the bill.

She said: "It is really unfortunate. I just cannot say how sorry we are that it has happened. We are going to look into and make sure it never happens again."

The hospital normally had checks to make sure a deceased person's family did not receive such bills and the cash demand would be quashed.

However, she confirmed that in normal circumstances those involved in traffic accidents were billed for £21.30 per person, costs usually met by the car driver's insurance company.

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