McDonald's launches internal review after franchisee is fined

McDonald's is to conduct an internal review of how it monitors the franchisees that run a third of its UK restaurants after one of them was heavily fined for illegally employing schoolchildren.

Surrey magistrates fined franchisee Ikhya Enterprises, which operates two McDonald's restaurants in Camberley, Surrey, £12,400 plus £60 costs after it admitted 20 offences.

McDonald's said in a statement: "Our franchisee, Kevin Izatt, did hire staff below the minimum school-leaving age and breached the law in terms of hours worked. We expect our franchisees and managers to maintain the highest standards in all restaurants. We are deeply disappointed that this was not the case in this instance. To avoid any repetition he will no longer employ children under school-leaving age."

Franchisees make up 33% of McDonald's 1,170 restaurants.