A TEENAGER who was burnt with hot oil while working at a pub has spoken of his horrendous injuries and the trauma of his accident.

Dale Wakeman, 19, was covered in boiling cooking fat from an industrial fryer when he slipped on the kitchen floor at The Folly pub, on the Avon Ring Road.

Dale, of Bredon in Yate, spent three weeks in Frenchay Hospital and will be scarred for life on his legs.

At Northavon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, pub owners Marstons pleaded guilty to two charges of failing to discharge a duty of responsibility to ensure the safety of its employees and of failing to make suitable and sufficient assessments to health and safety risks.

The firm was fined £17,500 and ordered to pay costs of £8,151.27.

The trainee chef has now changed career after suffering first and second degree burns in the accident two years ago.

Dale, who now works with his dad at GWR Building and Electrical in Kingswood, said: "It was pretty scary. I can remember it all vividly but I think the shock just kicked in. I went outside and hosed myself down with cold water and phoned my mum."

The former King Edmund Community School pupil said he had to wear bandages on his legs for a year after sustaining the injuries.

He added: "I will heal to a certain extent but the scars will always be there. Some of the hair on my legs had grown back - it was all burnt off and doctors said it would not grow.

"I used to play basketball every day but I couldn't play for sometime and I have only recently started wearing shorts again."

Dale's mum Debbie Wakeman said her son, who was 17 at the time of the accident, should not have been operating the deep fat fryer at the Emersons Green pub.

She said the family had spent thousands of pounds buying specialist equipment.

"The seriousness of it does hit us sometimes and we realise our son could have died," she said.

At Northavon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, Mark Willingham, prosecuting for South Gloucestershire Council, said: "The hot oil was allowed to cool for just one hour but guidance recommends it is left for at least six hours before cleaning fat fryers.

"Health and safety standards discovered in 2006 fall far short of the standards you would expect of any business, let alone of a national company with a dedicated health and safety department."

David Whiting, mitigating, said employees' safety was of paramount importance to Marstons.

He added: "This was not cost cutting. It was an isolated lapse by a company committed to the highest possible standards."

Chairman of the bench, Susan Whitby-Coles, said: "This was a very serious incident, especially to Dale. There was considerable danger involved although we are satisfied it was not deliberate."

The family are also suing Marstons plc in a civil case for compensation.