Little Chef pays up at long last

Little Chef, the roadside restaurant chain owned by Compass Group, has paid a worker the £248.90 it owed her - one year late.

Jenny Fowler, 22, of Sittingbourne in Kent, earned the money working at a Little Chef restaurant in Whitstable, also in Kent, for four days in the run-up to Christmas 2000.

Last year, she repeatedly asked the company for her wages and even won a county court judgment in her favour. But still no money was paid.

Finally, as 2001 drew to a close, Compass Group sent Fowler a cheque for £275. It said that it had decided to pay her more than it owed her "in recognition of the error". A spokesman said: "It was human error. We cannot explain it. It is just one of those things. We are very sorry it happened and we have apologised to Miss Fowler."

Paul Kenny, London secretary for the GMB union, said: "The fact they ignored the county court order speaks volumes."

The GMB said that Compass is one of the few companies that does not pay the national minimum wage rate of £4.10 an hour to its workers aged under 22. It appears on a GMB list of shame for its refusal to do so.