A fast food franchisee faces a payout of almost £40,000 for health and safety failures after a teenage worker was scalded with hot oil.

The 16-year-old boy was carrying a bucket containing the liquid when it spilled onto his leg and foot at the West End Road outlet of Burger King.

The incident was said to have taken place on March 3, 2015.

Kaykem Fast Foods Ltd, which runs the restaurant, was hit with a £26,700 fine and ordered to pay £12,500 to Ipswich Borough Council for the cost of bringing the prosecution to court.

A hearing took place on Thursday at South East Suffolk Magistrates’ Court, in Ipswich.

The Colchester-based firm admitted two counts of failing to discharge general health, safety and welfare duty to an employee under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

According to Ipswich Borough Council, the member of staff suffered burns to his leg and foot as a result of the incident.

A spokesman for the council said: “We are pleased that the company admitted the offence.

“The seriousness with which we took the matter was demonstrated by the amount of work put into investigating the incident and preparing a case for prosecution at court.”

The incident happened during the same month as another worker was scalded with hot oil at the Burger King in Westgate Street.

The following December, Westgate Street Burger King franchisee KFG Quickserve was fined £166,600 and ordered to pay £12,000 costs to Ipswich Borough Council after admitting two counts of breaching a duty to an employee – one relating to health and safety failures on or before the incident, the other involving breaches that had not been rectified until some time afterwards.

The West End Road branch of Burger King was opened by family-owned franchisee Kaykem Fast Foods in July 2013.

At the time of the opening, the firm operated three other Burger King sites and employed more than 150 staff.

In October 2016, Kaykem Fast Foods commissioned the construction of a drive-through Starbucks, located next to the Burger King restaurant.

Kaykem Fast Foods was contacted by this newspaper for a response to this week’s hearing, but failed to respond before publication.