BRITAIN is ignoring more than 300,000 First World War casualties buried within its own borders, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has warned.

The Commission, which maintains the graves of Commonwealth servicemen and women who died in the two world wars, said that of 23,000 CWGC sites worldwide, more than half are in the United Kingdom.

But some have fallen into ruin, including 60 that have decayed too much or become too dangerous to restore. One lies under a roundabout on the M6, while three others are under car parks.

CWGC director general Alan Pateman-Jones said: "If you talk to British schoolchildren, they will tell you that they went to Belgium.

"Yet they have 300,000 casualties on their doorstep."