Visitors travelling to the Accrington Pals memorial in France to pay their respects have allegedly been met with “intimidation”.

In a post on its website, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which looks after the site in Sheffield Memorial Park, said: “We have been informed that some visitors have experienced intimidating behaviour from a local resident when visiting cemeteries in the vicinity of this site.

“We recommend parking in front of this site before walking up to Sheffield Park and the surrounding cemeteries. Please follow the tracks and pathways only and do not cut across the fields.”

The year 2016 marks the centenary of the Battle of the Somme and thousands of people have made the journey to France.

Hyndburn councillor Judith Addison, who has travelled to the site twice this year, said she thinks the situation is “absolutely ridiculous”.

She added: “The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are a huge organisation and you would think between themselves and the local French authorities they could have sorted something out.

"People don’t go to these sites to be disrespectful, they go to pay tribute to those who fought and died in those fields. I’ve travelled there about five times in the last ten years and people stick to the paths.”

The memorial to the Accrington Pals is located in Sheffield Memorial Park. Earlier this year the Mayoral consort from Hyndburn travelled to France to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme on July 1.

More than 500 soldiers from the Accrington Pals battalion were killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.