Parents are annoyed after a family-friendly procession turned into a horror show when a float drove along covered in blood with a chainsaw-wielding maniac on board.

Many children were left in floods of tears by 'scarers' from the horror-themed maze, who kept wandering around the crowd during the carnival.

Organisers of Margate Carnival have launched an investigation over claims actors dressed in ghoulish costumes from a "18-trailer film" had to be told to "back off" from children.

Thousands of people flocked to watch the Margate Carnival procession at the seaside resort on Sunday - but there was only one scary float.

A 30-year-old local mum said: "You wouldn't show an 18 trailer film to children at a massive family event.

"The actors were going up to kids and they were crying.

"It was pretty horrific, there as someone with a bloodied creepy doll's head on and a man with a chainsaw on the actual float making a huge noise.

"There were a lot of actors just staring at the kids in the faces.

"They were just doing their job - well.

"There were thousands of people there. Hundreds of kids would would have quite upset.

"I know there was a few parents that were there who had to tell the actors to back off from their kids.

“The younger ones were really crying and the actors were really freaking the kids out."

The mum, who asked not to be named, was spooked out when she turned around to find a zombie nurse stood behind her - glaring menacingly.

She added: "It actually freaked me out. I turned around because it scared me.

"There were little girls dressed up with their hair all down and blackened like they were zombies.

"There was even a Mickey Mouse covered in blood.

"There was a little boy carrying a huge knife too - it was meant to be so kids aren't so scared but I think it didn't work and made it worse.

"It was all very horror - there was also a clown with lots of blood.

"There was a lot of kids that were upset, I know if my children were there they would have been really upset - they would have been scared."

A spokesman for Margate Carnival said: "Margate Carnival is a family event and we have to cater to everyone.

"We have launched an investigation about how scary the actions were, we don't want to see children upset, we aim to provide a good atmosphere.

"I saw the costumes on the day and I didn't think they were too bad it was more the actions of the actors walking up to the kids and trying to scare them."

He added: "It was probably the most free flowing carnival in the last five years, there were very little gaps.

"We were pleased at how close together the parade kept and there was very little trouble apart from a small stop.

"We had 60 floats and limited it to that number so the whole parade didn't take too long to pass people."

"There were a lot of actors just staring at the kids in the faces" - one of the mums

A spokesman for Westgate Pavilion which was hired for the event said they put measures in place to try and minimise the risk of children being scared.

They added: “We had discussed issues with it scaring children and adults and part of our set up was using children to walk along side with main scarers up high away from and frightened spectators.

“All scare actors never approached anyone showing fear or upset that is not what we are about.

"It’s a fictitious fun event to cater for this who loved to be scared.”