A car park littered with rubbish just yards from public bins has sparked fresh calls for action - after a politician branded the site a ‘right mess’ during a visit this week.

Douglas South MHK Sarah Maltby told Isle of Man Today she visited the site at Quarterbridge on Thursday and was shocked by the amount of rubbish strewn around the site.

Her reaction comes after Isle of Man Today learned that complaints have been made to the city council over the issue.

The car park lies on Peel Road in Douglas, yards away from the city’s McDonald’s fast-food outlet and the fire station and over the river from the National Sports Centre (NSC).

The site is often used by motorists to eat food purchased from McDonald’s. However, litter is sometimes being dropped from cars just yards away from multiple bins.

There have been long-standing issues with the car park which is owned by the Department of Infrastructure (DOI).

Mrs Maltby said: ‘I have not received any complaints from constituents personally, but I went down there on Thursday to have a look, and it was really bad, a right mess. I have not seen it that bad for a long time.

‘There also seems to be a number of vehicles that have been dumped there for long than 16 hours. There are warning signs up now.

‘The DOI could close the car park but it is used by parents to take their children to the NSC so it would not be ideal.’

Mrs Maltby is on the Destination First Board which aims to promote and enhance the visitor experience on the island.

She said: ‘I have raised this issue at the board meetings before, and I will do so again.’

Complaints have recently been made to Douglas City Council about the issue.

While the authority’s waste collection teams are not responsible for the site as a whole, staff do collect rubbish from the bins.

In response, a council official said: ‘The DOI owns the car park and is responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the car park including litter picking, etc.

‘However, the council is responsible for emptying the public bins in the car park.

‘Since receiving the enquiry from the member of the public this week we have been in touch with our waste services team to get them to check we have the right capacity bins in this location.

‘Do we need additional collections, and do we need to potentially increase the capacity for the TT period? Our waste services team are looking into these points.

‘We have contacted the DOI to request they make an inspection, take necessary action to clear the site and then to consider if a more regular cleaning schedule is required. They have assured us they will deal with this.

‘I have also tasked the wardens to visit McDonalds to speak to them about litter picking staff.’

McDonalds does not have any contractual requirement to clean the car park; however, members of staff have removed rubbish from the car park and along Peel Road regularly in the past.

Isle of Man Today has contacted both the DOI and McDonald’s for a response.