Angry relatives want their loved ones' remains moving from a garden of rest because they say it is blocked by cars and offers no peace or privacy.

They complain the gates to the garden, at the Thornbury Centre, Old Leeds Road, are frequently blocked by cars and that motorists stare when they are trying to pray.

Edward Hanon says even the dustbins at the centre have a nicer spot than his family's ashes.

Mr Hanon, 30, of Holme Wood, Bradford, said visiting the garden of rest was "a horrible experience".

The last time he went the only way he could have paid his respects at his grandmother's grave would have been to clamber over a car bonnet.

And he is furious that memorial stones, vase holders and pots have been removed from plots and put under a bench.

Mr Hanon's cousin Bradley, who died at six months, and his aunt, Ann Atkins, also have their ashes buried in the garden. He says it is surrounded by a car park and there is no peace or privacy.

He said: "It is not a nice place to visit. I don't think a garden of rest should be in the middle of a car park."

Mr Hanon's uncle, David Atkins, 58, of Fen Court Crescent, Fagley, Bradford, wants the ashes of his three close relatives relocating.

He says his mother, Mary, wife, Ann, and little son Bradley should be laid somewhere dignified and private.

Mr Atkins, who is poorly with angina and recently suffered two strokes, said he had an attack of his illness when he saw Bradley's memorial stone had gone.

"I am absolutely devastated and I have complained bitterly to the vicar. How can it be a health and safety issue? You couldn't trip over it if you tried.

"You take your life in your hands with cars whizzing past you on the car park and they say a small flower vase is dangerous."

Sarah Coultous, 36, of Maple Avenue, Thornbury, wants her father Leslie's ashes moving to a quieter spot. Mr Coultous, a keen volunteer at the former St Margaret's Church, died aged 55 in 1977.

His ashes were relocated when the church was demolished in the late 1980s.

"It was a beautiful garden of rest, now it is a car park. The new garden has vehicles parked all round it, they even block the gates. People stare at you, it's a horrible feeling," Miss Coultous said.

"I find myself upset and angry every time I visit. It was supposed to be a place of peacefulness. Cars park right in front of the gates, making it look like an extension to the already two large car parks either side of the garden.

"My family and I are considering removing my father's ashes, which have been in St Margaret's for 31 years, by going to the department for constitutional affairs to get a licence to exhume them to make sure he will finally rest in a place we feel he would love."

The Reverend Felicity Shaw, priest with pastoral care for St Margaret's, is raising concerns about the garden of rest at the next Church Council meeting.

She said Bradley's memorial stone would be replaced and notices put up telling drivers to keep the gate clear and respect the garden of rest.

She said Mr Atkins came to visit his son's grave on a day when more than 100 people were at a conference at the centre and the car park was exceptionally busy.

Mrs Shaw said the garden had been tidied. A new rule might stipulate that fresh flowers could be left but they would be removed, with the vases, when they died.

"We are doing our best to make the garden as pleasant as we can. Flowers have been planted and a clematis is growing up the fence to screen it," she said.