ANGRY residents today complained to organisers of Blackburn's Mela event claiming bad behaviour by some festival-goers had upset their weekend.

This year's Mela was the biggest yet. But while thousands of people descended on Witton Park for a weekend of music and celebration of Asian culture, some people living nearby claimed revellers had urinated in their doorways and caused traffic chaos.

However organisers said there had been only a handful of complaints about an otherwise successful event which attracted 40,000 people.

Shane Beck, who lives in Selous Road, opposite the park, said: "People were moving cones out of the road and parking where ever they pleased.

"We live on a one-way street but drivers were going both ways along it.

"Some of us were worried that if there was an accident, emergency crews would not have got down the road because it was so congested.

"We all feel really disgruntled as residents and as council tax payers because the organisers of the event did nothing to help the situation."

Another resident, Ellen Ansbro, described some of the behaviour as an absolute disgrace.

She said: "The traffic was terrible and the visitors and officials seemed to have no regard for us as residents.

"A car had been parked across my drive so I couldn't get in or out of my property."

A police spokesman confirmed that complaints had been made regarding people urinating in the streets and driving dangerously.

He said: "We received a complaint which we responded to appropriately and tried to find the people concerned.

"It is a shame that a small number of people can spoil what otherwise was a very successful event."

Norma Monks, assistant director of culture, leisure and sport at Blackburn with Darwen Council, which organised the mammoth event, said there had been a handful of calls from residents with traffic issues.

She apologised to Mr Beck but pointed out council staff and police had worked together to deal with the vehicles of almost 40,000 visitors to the festival.

She said: "We apologise to Mr Beck for any inconvenience he feels he may have suffered when he tried to park outside his home.

"The council and the police worked together to accommodate the vehicles of many of the 40,000 visitors we had over the weekend.

"There appears to have been an issue around congestion in this particular road on Sunday night when the event was at its peak, our events organiser spoke to Mr Beck on the telephone and traffic police were sent to the area at our request.

But when they arrived the problem had been resolved and there was no action for them to take."