Hundreds of cars disturbed the peace at Butterfield Green Road crematorium on Sunday as visitors attending a swimming gala at Inspire Sports Village were directed there to park.
More than 1,000 visitors soon filled up the 400-space sports centre car park and marshals sent the overflow vehicles to the Vale cemetery and Hilton Hotel instead.
Eugene Fox of nearby Hitchin Road said the cars pouring into the crematorium was disrespectful.
He said: “I think it’s disgusting. There was a funeral going on, there was someone getting cremated, and the crematorium was busy because Sunday is a day when many people visit to tidy up the graves and pay their respects.
“That was disrespectful that all those cars were going up there. There were marshals directing them in, children and parents traipsing through. Is this going to be happening all the time? I felt sorry for the kids as well. It’s a graveyard not a car park, you go to pay your respects, not to park up all day because there’s a swimming gala on.”
An Active Luton spokesman said the 1,000 attendees for the gala and a street dance championships put a “great deal of pressure” on the 400-space car park.
The spokesman said: “We are of course sensitive to our neighbours in all aspects of operations at Inspire and have a travel plan with the council. We are also working with the parks department to continue to improve access.”
He said having learnt from previous events, they wanted to “free up” the Inspire car park for regular customers.
He said: “The cemetery was only used as a last resort and the marshals were there to ensure there was full respect for other users. Inspire has been extremely popular since it opened, and while we are happy so many people are making use of its world class facilities, we will continue to look into other options to limit overflow for major events.”