HUNDREDS of people were seen attending a traveller funeral in Abingdon last week.

Police have said they tried to stop large groups from attending the funeral at the Spring Road cemetery.

Thames Valley Police told the Oxford Mail it was aware of the event in advance and tried to remind those attending of the coronavirus restrictions before the funeral took place.

The Government-enforced coronavirus restrictions mean that no more than 30 people can attend a funeral or burial, whether it is indoors or outdoors.

The police force did admit, however, that the gathering was much ‘larger than anticipated’.

Here is what our readers said about the mass gathering:

DEACON SELINA NISBETT: “That is very hard to see when you have to have a funeral and you have no option but to ask people to stay away.

“It is really painful to hold a service with just a handful of people, knowing that under different circumstances, the church would have been packed.

“I really hope that there is some sanction for this when so many people are sticking to the law in spite of it hurting so much.”

SARAH JONES: “I was stuck in traffic down Spring Road where they had all parked on double yellows as well as double parked.

“The police told me they could not do anything as they were outnumbered.”

PAUL RICHARD: “Please tell me they got fines like the rest of the population would have got.

“Obviously I feel for the fact they lost someone, but others I know have had shocking experiences where minimal people have been able to attend.”

SUE JEACOCK: “Let’s be honest, police were way outnumbered and would you try to tell them to move on?

“They were parked on the road, in driveways, across driveways - there were hundreds of them.

“Totally shocking, but my point is the police were there in force, so how come it was not stopped beforehand as they clearly knew it was going to happen?”

CHERYL HENNESSY: “It’s disgusting that this was allowed. My aunt’s funeral was last week and we have a big family, so most of us had to stand along the route to pay our respects.

“I thought the rules applied to everyone, clearly not and I’d say the same regardless of who it were.”

JOEY NAPPER: “I went to a funeral last week and only 30 people were allowed in the church.

“No one was allowed to attend my uncle’s funeral who passed of Covid in April and yet it is okay for this? It makes me so angry.”

CHLOE LOUISE PARROTT: “Glad to see the police sorted the traffic and not the amount of people there.”

ANDY BROWN: “They now have no room to be dishing out fines to people when they are happy to let these do it.”

JAN HEAPY: “We lost our lovely mum in a nursing home with Covid.

“She had a great family including three daughters and three son-in-laws, six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

“We all loved her dearly but we could only have six of us at the funeral because we couldn’t choose who could go.

“It makes me so cross that people think they can do what they want, it’s idiots like this don’t help us get back to normal and get this killer Covid under control, they have no respect for others.”

‘KIDLINGTON DAVE’: “I wish I had been able to attend my uncle’s funeral earlier in the year, but I couldn’t because I obeyed the law. More fool me.”

‘IMCNU’: “They do not social distance, and they do not wear face masks. They park where they like and congregate in as many numbers as they want.”

A spokesperson for Thames Valley Police said: “We had been notified of the burial before it happened, and sought to remind those involved of the requirements under Covid regulations.

“However, as those attending were travelling from outside of the Thames Valley area, details of the numbers who ended up travelling as part of the cortege had not been confirmed to us, and were larger than anticipated."