Bureaucrats accused of bungling over Government debts bit back yesterday.

And now the civil service union is to seek top-level meetings to discuss a threat to penalise its members in the pocket if they fail to haul Government's books back into the black.

Bermuda Public Service Association Acting General Secretary Thelma Hart said: "This has caused concern among the membership.

"And, in broad terms, we would not be in favour of this at all.'' Ms Hart spoke out after a hard-hitting report by independent Auditor Larry Dennis slammed failures to collect millions of dollars in debt to Government.

The Ministry of Finance replied that it would give "serious consideration'' to surcharging civil servants who do not rake in overdue payments.

But Ms Hart said: "We're looking at this. Some of our people are off the Island, but we're planning to pursue this matter further with the Ministry of Finance to get some answers and some clarification on what this is all about.

"It's in hand and we're looking to take a course of action.'' Ms Hart said worried civil servants had already contacted the union's headquarters seeking further information -- leading the union to ask for a meeting with Finance Minister Eugene Cox.

She said: "We have had a few reactions from members wanting to know what criteria might be used. They want to know whether they're going to blame the heads of departments or individual workers.'' Ms Hart was backed by BPSA president Betty Christopher -- who promised action on the threat as soon as possible.

She said: "We've discussed this report and intend to seek an appointment with the Minister to discuss it. We're definitely on top of this.

"We're very concerned about this and the impact it might have on our membership.'' But Government's get tough policy was backed by Mr. Dennis -- who has complained for years about inefficient collection of debt.

He said: "If in fact civil servants are not willing to do their jobs properly or make the wrong decisions there are disciplinary measures which Government can take and they have to consider that.

"Civil servants can't keep on saying `we know there's a problem'. They have to get to grips with it. They have to do something.'' Mr. Dennis added: "I don't think people understand the extent of the problem and they really have to be informed what's going on.'' Mr. Cox -- who has been off the Island -- was yesterday reluctant to discuss the controversy before being brought up to date by his staff.

But he said: "This is an issue the Auditor, the Accountant General, the Financial Secretary and others have been working on.

"We certainly intend to give it a higher priority. There are a number of things which have been done over the years which are due attention.''