Milkmen angry at Euro ban on young helpers

But only the earliest risers get to see how the bottle of milk gets from the back of the float to the doorsteps.

Often, its via the hand of a school age youngster who earns valuable spending money by taking the milk from float to house in all weathers.

Now local authorities in East Lancashire have been told by the Euro bureaucrats to clarify their bylaws in the area of children at work.

The Children and Young Persons Act currently states that youngsters can be employed in the delivery of milk and newspapers between the hours of 7am and 8am.

But children are not supposed to work before 7am or after 7pm on weekdays and before 8am on Sundays.

The upshot of the latest move is that youngsters aged under 16 will be banned from delivering the doorstep pinta altogether.

Milkmen across East Lancashire are vowing to fight the ban, which Lancashire County Council looks set to implement and which Blackburn with Darwen Council has already said it will introduce on September 1. Milkman Robin Spedding, of Henthorn Farm, Henthorn Road believes youngsters employed on milk rounds learned 'important life skills.'

He said: "Besides giving them pocket money, they gain experience of controlling their finances, learn commitment to employment, time-keeping, discipline, reliability, honesty and teamwork, all of which are important life skills.

"They learn to organise their lives around working practices instead of anti-social behaviour."

Mr Spedding, who has been involved in his family's milk firm for 45 years, said he employed several 'conscientious and industrious' young people on alternate days in the delivery of milk.

"Delivering milk is safer than delivering newspapers. Youngsters are supervised at all times and I have a waiting list of them wanting to work for me. Clitheroe milkmen feel strongly about this and we have the backing of parents."

He said the price of a doorstep pinta was unlikely to increase due to the new ruling.

"If we are forced to employ adults our overheads will go up, but the price of a doorstep pinta is unlikely to increase. We are already competing with supermarkets and can't put our prices up. But that's not really our main concern.

"This ruling will rob youngsters of secure, worthwhile employment, which they invariably undertake with the blessing of their parents. We think that's wrong," he added.

Clitheroe Mayor John McGowan, described the new ruling as 'absolutely crazy' and has blasted 'faceless bureaucrats' for "yet another attack on the rural way of life."

"This ruling affects the whole of Lancashire, but particularly rural areas, including the Ribble Valley. To compare doorstep milk delivery with fairgrounds and nightclubs is ludicrous.

"I don't think this bylaw has been thought through properly. It has been pushed through the back door and it's time for country folk to make another song and dance," he said.

Harrison's Dairy, in Beresford Road, Blackburn, is already planning to work without the 15-year-olds employed on its milk rounds. Janet Harrison said: "We'll just have to try and take on 17 and 18-year-old college kids. But we are not happy about it. It's stupid."

Independent milk deliverer Mark Folley, of Higham, who has two rounds with Scott Bamber, of Burnley, said: "It is going to affect me because I have two lads under 16 who I won't be able to employ. I struggle to get anyone over 16 because at that age they can be working a 40-hour week and they want to do that rather than get up early to deliver milk.

"I can understand the ruling for nightclubs and slaughterhouses, but delivering milk is a lot different. I don't think there is anything I can do about it."

A spokesman for Waterford Dairies, in Darnley Street, Burnley, said: "We knew this was coming in because we have outlets in Trafford and that council has already introduced the bylaw, so we do not employ anyone under 16."

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