Burger bar worker Andrew Sawyer was scalded when he slipped over carrying a bucket of hot fat.

The bosses of the Burger King outlet in Oxford were fined £25,000 over the incident, in which Andrew suffered ten per cent burns to his stomach and left arm.

The 17-year-old, of Annesley Road, Rose Hill, was working at Burger King in the Granada service station on the Peartree roundabout for just a month when the accident happened.

Andrew, a former pupil of St Augustine's School, was asked to carry the fat down some stairs and along a slope to the back yard. He slipped and fell on his back.

In a statement to Oxford City Council's environmental health department, he said: "The lid came off the bucket and hot oil ran on to my left arm and the left side of my hip and stomach. This was the first time I had been asked to move waste oil.'' Granada Hospitality, which runs the Burger King franchise at the site, pleaded guilty at Oxford magistrates' court to two charges of breaking rules governing health and safety at work.

The company was fined £20,000 for failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees and a further £5,000 for failing to make a sufficient assessment of the risks to its employees.

The firm, which is not responsible for other Burger King outlets in Oxford, was also ordered to pay £3,500 court costs.

Environmental health officer Richard Atherton said: "Andrew Sawyer had been working there for only a month. The accident demonstrated breaches in health and safety and We decided to throw the book at them. This is a substantial fine and we are pleased with the outcome. We hope this will encourage other food outlets to behave more responsibly towards their staff. This employee had not been given sufficient training." A spokesman for Granada Hospitality said: "The company very much regrets the accident which occurred to Andrew Sawyer and is grateful to learn he will seemingly not suffer any long-term effects as a consequence of the incident.

"As a result of this case, the company has reviewed its systems and procedures to ensure that an incident of this nature will never happen again.

"Health and safety has always been of paramount concern to Granada and until this incident the company's health and safety record was excellent."

Andrew, who now works as a street sweeper for the city council, said: "I think it's good they were fined this amount. It's a good result. But the real test is going to be whether it happens again. It should never have happened in the first place.

"My doctors say I will not be scarred permanently but it is still very itchy in the sun."

Story date: Friday 11 February

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.