Bradford education bosses were slammed today after ordering a butcher to sack his 15-year-old shop assistant on health and safety grounds.

Donald Pickup, who runs a family butchers in Bradford's Oastler Centre, has been given seven days to fire his young Saturday worker Glen Clayden, pictured.

It follows a similar ruling by Education Bradford against Ben Rhydding butcher Steve Furniss, who was ordered to sack his 16-year-old assistant Ben Batters.

Ben was later reprieved after agreeing to carry out only certain tasks - but Education Bradford today warned it was clamping down on under-age workers.

Education Bradford has been criticised for imposing the new laws as a blanket ban rather than carrying out assessments on the shops and workers involved.

Today Mr Pickup, who has worked at A J Pickup and Son Butchers for 33 years, claimed the decision was a case of "bureaucracy gone mad".

He estimated he had employed 50 "Saturday boys" in his time at the butchers - and had never had a problem until now. "The country is going crazy," Mr Pickup said, "I really don't want to sack the lad and I am absolutely fed up with bureaucracy going mad. I think they just pick on easy targets like us.

"When I got the letter, I was appalled. I couldn't believe it. It does lads of this age a world of good to be earning a wage. Would you rather they were stood on street corners getting up to no good?"

Mr Pickup said Glen's tasks involved serving customers, packing shopping, and cleaning the shop floor. He insisted he never allowed Saturday workers near the cutting equipment.

Glen, of Eccleshill, who attends Immanuel College in Idle, said he would struggle to find any pocket money if he leaves the Saturday job he has held for five months.

"I really enjoy this job and don't think this decision is right," he said, "I don't work with knives or anything that could cause a hazard and I'm not putting myself in danger."

Graham Bidston, chief executive of the National Federation of Meat and Food Traders, said the authority was misinterpreting the by-law. "How can a local authority make a decision on whether a particular youngster is safe without going to see the shop in question? The by-law is not absolute and it doesn't give them the right to impose a blanket ban on youngsters working in butchers' shops.

"There may be parts of the shop which are well away from any cutting equipment. I bet Education Bradford is quite happy to allow children to work in supermarkets and handle meats in exactly the same way without a problem."

A spokesman for Education Bradford said: "We have started a series of checks on traders who traditionally employ young people. The first round will involve shops, market traders and newsagents.

"We plan to carry out visits to other traders over the next few months. Checks are made from time to time to make sure traders are upholding the law."