School bosses have ordered a butcher to sack his own son from his part-time job with the family business.

Thomas Charnock, 16, pictured, has worked at his dad Allan's business for two years.

But Education Bradford now says Mr Charnock is breaching Bradford Council bylaws which govern the employment of school age children in areas connected with the butchery of livestock.

But Mr Charnock, 54, who runs his business Charnocks Butchers at The Oastler Centre in Bradford, has branded the action "heavy handed".

And Thomas, a Bingley Grammar School student, has written to Education Bradford pleading for a change of heart.

"As long as I can remember, over the last 35 years, there have been butcher's boys working after school and on Saturdays," said Mr Charnock, of Stonehaven Court, Keighley.

"Thomas is very proficient - I have every confidence in him. He has grown up with the business.

"He has been working with us since he was 14. His sisters, who are now 24 and 21, also worked with us.

"Thomas felt very strongly about this and decided to write to tell his side of things."

In his letter, Thomas says that while he appreciates the need to watch out for child employment abuses, he asks for a common sense approach. "I suppose if I wasn't working on Saturday I could legally be doing other useful things like riding a motorbike around the streets, joining the armed forces, getting married and starting a family, consent to a homosexual relationship, or just hanging around outside our local off-licence, getting cigarettes off people.

His letter continues: "Will I have to cease using saws, chisels, craft-knives, hot soldering irons during school technology lessons for the same reason?

"Will I have to hold my mother's hand when crossing the roads?"

A spokesman for Education Bradford said its officers were involved in a series of checks on traders who employ young people and the first round involved shops, market traders and newsagents.

"Checks are made from time to time to make sure traders are upholding the law and Bradford Council bylaws on the employment of school- age children."