Hampshire parents fined for employing teen son in family food trailer

The parents of a 14-year-old boy have been fined for allowing him to work on the family's mobile food trailer.

Karen and Greg Olejarka pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates' Court to breaching Hampshire County Council's byelaws prohibiting under-16s from working in commercial kitchens.

The Hampshire couple have been fined £600 each and ordered to pay a further £6,000 in costs.

The family had argued they were supporting their son Dexter's passion for cooking by allowing him to prepare food in the trailer from the age of 12.

District Judge Anthony Callaway said it was significant that Dexter was seen using deep fat fryers, knives and working in a commercial kitchen run for profit.

The family had argued the food trailer should not be regarded as a commercial kitchen, and insisted that Dexter's education was not affected.

Greg Olejarka said: "No one considered Dexter in all of this. They prosecute us as parents for supporting our child to become someone with skills."

Hampshire County Council became aware of Dexter after a YouTube video praising the teenager's cooking skills showed him using a grill and a deep fat fryer.

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The family said they were tackling the dispute with the council while supporting another son, while he received treatment for blood cancer.

Karen Olejarka said they pleaded guilty as fighting the case would have been too expensive.

"We've gone from fighting for our second son to be able to live his life, to fighting for our oldest son to live," she said.

At an earlier hearing, Hampshire County Council said it had attempted to resolve the issue before prosecution, but prosecutor Ian Jenkins said Dexter's father had "gone nuclear" and made it a national issue.

Child employment in England is covered by the Children and Young Person Act 1933, and also by local byelaws drawn up by each local authority.

While Hampshire's byelaws state that "children may do light work from the age of 13 years until they are no longer of compulsory school age", employment in commercial kitchens is prohibited until the age of 16.

The council said: "We will only consider legal action in the most exceptional circumstances, where there are safeguarding concerns that cannot be addressed in other ways.

"The defendants in this case pleaded guilty and they appear to have recognised that the employment of Dexter in a commercial kitchen was unlawful."

Dexter's parents said he was no longer helping out on the food trailer.