Mourners hoping to visit the graves of loved ones on Christmas Day have been left angry and distraught after finding cemeteries closed around Medway.

Some even reportedly resorted to breaking padlocks off gates and scaling fences in order to get access.

Chatham Central Councillor Vince Maple has written to Medway Norse - which is responsible for Medway cemeteries on behalf of Medway Council - after witnessing the situation at Chatham Cemetery.

He said he was passing the cemetery at around 9.10am yesterday, when he saw a long queue of people and cars outside. "It was clear that the gates were locked," he added.

"A couple said to me that this was very unusual on Christmas Day. I phoned the Norse Helpdesk to speak to someone who said they would come back to me as soon as possible.

"As I am sure you can appreciate people and families attending the cemetery on Christmas Day will be very emotional and were getting increasingly frustrated. I chased the helpline a couple more times with no update. By 9.50am with no substantial update one individual was so angry he took a hammer to the locks. Clearly I can appreciate his total frustration.

"At that point I left the cemetery entrance to get a phone call just after 10am from the helpdesk saying someone would be on their way."

He said a member of staff on the helpdesk apologised for the time it had taken, but suggested lessons needed to be learnt to ensure such a situation does not happen ever again.

Others reported a similar situation at Gillingham Cemetery in Woodlands Road.

One witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said they hoped to visit their parents' graves on Christmas Day, but found the gates locked.

They added: "I then telephoned Medway Council out of hours service who told me that he had quite a few calls about this and that it was not only Gillingham Cemetery but Chatham and Rochester too.

"You can image how distraught I was getting, not being able to visit my dear parents; my loved ones. I said I feel like breaking the padlock off and he replied that's what people are doing as he was unable to get hold of anyone who had the gate keys.

"What an absolute mess up. While I was there a young man with a bunch of flowers managed to climb over the fence."

Medway Council leader Alan Jarrett apologised to anyone affected by the closure, but said it had not been a council decision to leave the gates unopened.

"There was no decision, they just haven't been opened," he said. "I've been on to officers about it. It's quite unacceptable. There will be hard words spoken after Christmas - suffice to say I'm not very pleased."