Nearly 500 parking permits are issued to staff at Ronaldsway Airport, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.

The Department of Infrastructure confirmed that a total of 478 parking permits are currently issued for use in the staff car park at the airport.

Of these, 176 permits are issued to staff who are directly employed by the government and 302 are issued to staff who are employed by contractors or other third parties.

The FoI request also asked what the policy is relating to the use of parking permits outside of working hours - so avoiding charges ordinarily imposed on the public when travelling from the airport.

There is no written policy relating to the use of staff parking permits ’outside of working hours’, the DoI said but added: ’However, there is an expectation that the permit will be used whilst on government business or whilst travelling off-island on government-related business.’

Annual charges for a business to lease a contract bay in the staff car park are currently £750 for a designated individual slot, or £700 each for two spaces, £650 each for three and £600 each for four or five spaces.

It costs £725 for an annual parking disc/permit for the staff car park.