It was reported in The Times last week that Hampshire County Council have threatened chef Greg Olerjarka with prosecution if he continues to allow his 14-year-old son, Dexter, to help him in his food truck at the weekends and after school. The boy desperately wants to be a chef and hopes one day to work alongside Marco Pierre White. He’s already an accomplished cook and has undertaken a food hygiene course. 

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13- and 14-year-olds, for whom minimum wage laws don’t apply, are allowed to do light work; 12 hours during the week (outside school hours) and five and two hours respectively on Saturdays and Sundays. They can work in retail, admin, hairdressing, stables, agriculture, horticulture, and deliver newspapers. In addition, they can work in cafés and restaurants but are forbidden from commercial kitchens. Olerjarka tried unsuccessfully to get round this by not paying his son.

Never mind health and safety, from what I’ve heard about some restaurant kitchens with their culture of ego, temper, bullying and cocaine use, I think we’d all prefer our kids stayed front of house, but a posh food truck with a parent?  Surely your average 14-year-old boy is less at risk there than alone in his room on his phone watching the........

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