A pub company has been fined almost £5,000 by magistrates for employing children illegally.
Buccaneer Holdings and its pub manager, Steven Lewis, of the Hare and Hounds pub in Torquay, Devon, were fined £4,800 and £3,000 respectively by Totnes magistrates after admitting ignorance of the law relating to the employment of young people.
Both parties were also ordered to pay a further £410 in court costs.
The case was brought after the pub was found to be illegally employing two teenage boys under the age of 16 in the kitchens.
Lewis and Andrew Jones, directors of the Cheltenham-based pub company, each admitted six separate offences involving the boys. They both asked for 18 similar offences involving employing six other children to be taken into consideration.
The offences were uncovered when one of the boys was injured while working in the kitchen.
Under current law, children under the age of 16 are forbidden from working in any commercial kitchen before 7am and after 7pm and, if they are employed at other times, their names and ages - along with details of their exact work - must be forwarded to the local authority one week before they are taken on.
Immediately after the case, Devon child employment officer Dave Morey warned that other licensees caught exploiting children could face the same punishment.
The court was told by Graham Gover, defending, that Buccaneer Holdings was ignorant of the law and did not know it had to make particular enquiries when it came to hiring young people.