Tribute website 'sorry' over ads

The creator of a website which allows people to pay tribute to dead family members and friends has apologised after online adverts upset users.

The Leeds-based website www.gonetoosoon.co.uk was bombarded with complaints after adverts started appearing on Wednesday.

They included an advert for a motorcycle on a tribute page for a man who died in a motorbike crash.

Creator Terry George said he would remove the adverts.

Nightclub owner Mr George, from Halifax, said he introduced advertising in an effort to keep the website free for users.

He introduced Google ads on to the site, not realising that Google finds adverts related to words used on a particular page.

The last thing I want to do is cause offence or distress to any users Website creator Terry George

The site also included adverts for self-defence classes on a tribute page for murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and adverts for airline Ryanair on sites for dead boys and men called Ryan.

Hundreds of people posted complaints on the website after finding the adverts.

Ally, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, said: "I am absolutely disgusted. Talk about rubbing salt in open wounds."

Tracey, from Essex, said: "I have recently lost my three-year-old son in a tragic accident and this site was recommended to me.

"I was so pleased with my memorial, in memory of my precious son, and have many visitors using it daily, until today when all I can see is adverts splashed all over it."

'Huge cost'

Mr George, who has posted an apology on the site, said it currently hosted 9,000 memorials and averaged three million hits per week.

He said: "As the costs of maintaining the site are rising I have been looking at ways of creating revenue without charging our users for the site.

"When creating the site I never expected it to be so popular and to play such an important part in so many people's lives.

"The last thing I want to do is cause offence or distress to any users.

"There is a huge cost in running the site and I want the site to be free to use for everyone."

He said he would be meeting his IT staff on Thursday to switch the adverts off and think of other ideas.