Thousands of gravestones in Oxford could soon be wrapped up with hazard tape as council officials start a safety campaign in the city's cemeteries.

Work will start at Oxford's four cemeteries and 13 city churchyards in two weeks' time as more than 13,000 headstones undergo rigorous testing.

The checks are being carried out amid increasing fears that people visiting relatives' graves could be injured or even killed by falling headstones.

Modern headstones deemed unstable will be secured with wooden stakes and efforts will be made to trace and inform relatives, while older memorials will be wrapped in tape and laid flat beside the graves.

Peter Mitchell, a cemetery consultant hired by the city council, who has checked more than 50,000 graves nationwide, said: "We realise it's a very sensitive issue and it can be upsetting for relatives. That's why we've decided not to lay down the modern gravestones and instead support them with wooden stakes.

"I appreciate it can be difficult for people, especially if they come down to the graveyard and see their relative's grave affected, but others around them unaffected. We're as fair as possible and follow national guide. "We have to weigh up the upset it might cause with the dangers there are in every churchyard. There are accidents just waiting to happen here."

While inspecting Wolvercote Cemetery, Mr Mitchell discovered several unstable headstones, which he said could cause serious injuries if they fell on someone.

Notes will be attached to unstable graves informing relatives of the city council's procedures and explaining that the relatives will then be responsible for repairs.

The oldest, largest memorials -- the ones most likely to be unstable and cause harm -- will be checked first. More recent memorials will be checked later. It is expected to take three months to check every grave in Oxford.

Mr Mitchell and his team will carry out a three-part test, comprising visual checks of the gravestones, followed by a physical condition check. If necessary, a testing device will then be used to assess the force it would take to knock over the memorial.

Although there have been no incidents at Oxford's burial grounds, a six-year-boy suffered fatal injuries in a graveyard in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in 2000. His parents received £33,000 compensation from the local council.

Last November, relatives tending gravestones in South Hinksey graveyard found headstones laid flat and feared they had been attacked by vandals.

The memorials had been found to be unsafe during safety checks ordered by the Vale of the White Horse District Council.

Edith Morris, 91, who tends 11 gravestones there, said: "I was upset to see the gravestones laid down like that and was even more upset after finding out it had been the work of the district council which I would have to pay to fix."