LEFT: In the freezer. RIGHT: Chloe with her mother Pauline arriving for the Cardiff tribunal hearing[WALES NEWS]And what Chloe Maisey, 19, claims was sexual discrimination by the all-male staff at the restaurant, owned by award winner Stephen Terry, was just “banter”, the hearing was told.
Trainee pastry chef Miss Maisey earlier told the employment tribunal she was “scared and upset” after being shut in the freezer at the Hardwick restaurant in Abergavenny, which has been regularly named the best restaurant in Wales.
But fellow chef Lorne Hargreaves told the hearing: “It was in the middle of July and everyone was moaning it was too hot.
"I picked her up and put her on the frozen bread. It was a spontaneous, funny thing to do.
“Everybody is treated the same in the kitchen. It is like a family environment, it is like brother-sister banter.”
Miss Maisey, who resigned after three months last summer, has made 21 allegations of sexual discrimination.
But Mr Terry, a regular star of TV cookery shows, told the tribunal that some of the incidents never happened and dismissed the others as joking.
He said: “Doing service is very stressful and there is a little bit of banter.
“You are in an environment where people mess about on occasions, but the guys are not malicious in any way.”
Miss Maisey claims she was ogled every day as she changed into her chef’s uniform and also claims a male staff member slapped her bottom.
Mr Terry said he was “shocked to the core” when Miss Maisey’s mother Pauline rang him to complain.
I picked her up and put her on the frozen bread. It was a spontaneous, funny thing to do
Miss Maisey, who resigned after three months last summer, has made 21 allegations of sexual discrimination.
But Mr Terry, a regular star of TV cookery shows, told the tribunal that some of the incidents never happened and dismissed the others as joking.
He said: “Doing service is very stressful and there is a little bit of banter.
“You are in an environment where people mess about on occasions, but the guys are not malicious in any way.”
Miss Maisey claims she was ogled every day as she changed into her chef’s uniform and also claims a male staff member slapped her bottom.
Mr Terry said he was “shocked to the core” when Miss Maisey’s mother Pauline rang him to complain.
William Rees, representing Miss Maisey, alleged Mr Terry had failed to investigate the allegations formally and had taken the word of his male employees.
But Mr Terry said he trusted his senior chefs who had worked for him over a number of years.
The tribunal heard that the vegetarian teenager was tricked into eating beef stock by a colleague.
Mr Terry, who trained under Marco Pierre White, did not deny the incident happened but told the tribunal in Cardiff: “I am a restaurateur, I take vegetarians very seriously.
"She did not tell me she felt violated and she did not seem distressed.”
Miss Maisey accused sous chef Jamie O’Leary of once throwing a sea bass at her.
But Mr O’Leary told the tribunal: “Have you any idea how much sea bass costs? If Stephen Terry caught wind of me throwing a sea bass around the kitchen it would be the end of me.”
The tribunal continues.
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