30880-18BILLOWING dust clouds from the Princess Margaret Hospital demolition site have left cabbie Keith Radway fuming.

Keith says filth from work at the former hospital site is getting everywhere, and fears it could be a health hazard.

His firm, Swindon Black Cabs, is based on the Okus Trading Estate, just yards from the building site.

Demolition work started in March, but he says the problems began with the onset of hot weather a few weeks ago. He says dust has been coating his cars and blowing into the office.

Apart from the unpleasant dirt, staff have complained about sore eyes and say it is making them cough.

"It gets into your throat," he said. "It's so bad it makes my voice croaky.

"I'm worried it could be hazardous, not just to my health, but to local residents and pupils at Commonweal School, which is nearby.

"We live in an age when passive smoking is considered to be pollution, so how can we allow a company to spew powder into the air like this? We don't know what it will do to our lungs. They should spray water and erect canvas walls to stop it spreading."

Keith's drivers are having to wash their cars twice a day to remove the grime.

He said: "Drivers park their cars and come back two hours later to find them covered in dust.

"Time is money when you're running a business."

Keith, who has run the business at the Okus site for seven years, was so concerned that he contacted Swindon Council.

The authority confirmed that environmental health officers had visited the site last week.

Bloor Homes is developing the area into an estate of 500 properties.

John Lusty, regional manager at the firm's Swindon office, said the dust problem was being addressed.

"Demolition workers have placed hoses which have been pricked with holes along the main routes on the site to dampen the dust," he said.

"A problem arose and we have done something about it."

PMH served Swindon from 1957 to the end of 2002.

It closed in December that year when the Great Western Hospital opened.

Tamash Lal