A VETERANS' group official believes organisers should have started preparing earlier for the 60th anniversary of D-Day.

More than 6,000 ex-combatants, carers and family members plan to travel to France for the landmark date of June 6.

But the Normandy Veterans Association (NVA) says it has not been properly consulted about the planned programme of events, which will also involve the Queen, Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush.

The Ministry of Defence has denied the claims, saying it has given numerous advance briefings and also published details on its website.

Ernie Innes, of Ellesmere Port, secretary of the association's Wirral and Chester branch, shares some of his fellow members' concerns.

He said: 'Our association has been planning for this anniversary for the past four years but the organisers don't seem to have done the same.

'It's not too bad if, like our branch members, you are going over in a group. But veterans going under their own steam could have all kinds of problems.

'One of these is accommodation. Places to stay around Bayeux, where the main ceremony will take place, were all booked up long ago, so you might have up to one-and-a-half hours to travel in from other places in Normandy.'

Mr Innes, who took part in the 1944 landings with the Royal Army Service Corps, added: 'For those travelling over independently there could also be problems with obtaining the correct passes to certain areas where events are taking place.'

Another thing some members of the NVA are uneasy about is the decision to include German soldiers along with British, American and French troops at a parade in Arromanches, one of the main landings areas 60 years ago.

Mr Innes said: 'We're not too keen on that because, after all, in 1944 it was German soldiers who were trying to pop us off.'

A group of 49 NVA members from this area will be making their sentimental journey to Normandy with the aid of a £24,000 grant from the Community Fund.

Official NVA itinerary for June 5 includes a service at a statue to British commander Field Marshall Montgomery in the town of Colleville-Montgomery at 11am and, later in the day, watching the Queen open the English Garden at the peace museum in Caen.

On June 6 NVA members will attend an 11am ceremony at the British Cemetery in Bayeux and, at 2pm, march through the town of Arromanches.