Airport staff have launched a petition for an upgraded car park.

They complain their cars have been sprinkled with dust from trucks passing nearby.

Employees have also called for a cafeteria where they could be served hot meals.

This week Airport Operations General Manager Marshall Minors said management were looking into the complaints.

An Airport staff member who wished to remain anonymous told The Royal Gazette : "Many of us have new cars and when we used to park down at the staff car park, we would come back at the end of the day and they would be dirt red.'' The employee said the dirt came from trucks using the dump next to the car park. He added when it rained there was no proper drainage and so the puddles turned into lakes, preventing staff from getting into their cars without getting very wet feet.

And they have asked management to upgrade the parking area and even had a petition sent round staff members requesting the car park be upgraded.

He added that the management staff and Customs, both US and Bermudian, used a car park right next to the terminal building, so did not experience the conditions in the regular staff car park.

And on a separate matter, the staff member said they desperately needed a cafeteria where they could get hot meals.

Presently, the only place to eat was a small deli upstairs which, he said, was expensive and served nothing hot to eat.

Mr. Minors said he had been off the Island for a few weeks and not seen the petition from Airport staff.

He said meetings with Works and Engineering to put measures into place dealing with these problems were ongoing.

And he wanted to assure staff that their concerns were not being ignored. He said action had been taken to deal with the water problem such as drains being cut and stepping stones laid to bridge the puddles, and a "berm'' was being constructed to shield the Airport from the dust of the dump.

He also said Works and Engineering had been very diligent in keeping the road clean, paved and tidy.

Mr. Minors said the vast majority of staff used the designated car park and were supportive in the efforts to upgrade it.

And he said it was an ongoing process to upgrade all of the Airport facilities but there was a cost associated with everything.

He said: "It is not 100 percent perfect at the moment, but we are working towards that.'' He asked people to be considerate.

Responding to queries about a staff cafeteria, Mr. Minors said they were looking at putting in food services.

He said: "We sent out an RFP (request for proposals) and have had some responses and evaluations are underway.'' He said they had space upstairs and downstairs and he hoped to have news very soon.