Sacked stable girls told 'you are too young'

Yasmin Bouyi, along with 11 other girls, has been working part-time at Arundel Riding Centre for about a year. She was forced to stop after an education welfare officer at West Sussex County Council ruled that none of the girls should be working there.

Hayley, Yasmin's mum, is shocked that her daughter has been stopped from doing what she loves.

"The girls are absolutely gutted, they are all just sitting on MSN talking to each other, they are all spread out over the area and now they can't see each other."

Yasmin and the other girls worked long hours, and for no payment. Hayley said: "They did work long hours but that was down to the kids. They did it out of love for the horses."

Yasmin, like many of the other girls at the stables, wants to work with horses when she leaves school, and Hayley saw the job as invaluable experience.

"When she left school at 18 she would have been qualified to get the job she wanted. Now she will have to fight her way through all the other school-leavers."

"If she had her own pony, she would be there all the time, doing what she was doing before. This week she is on a riding holiday that has cost us 170, but she is doing nothing different, apart from a bit of riding."

The "employment of children" regulations state children cannot work until they are 13, when they can apply to their school for a work permit which allows them to work a limited number of hours a day.

A County Council spokesperson said: "Getting a first job is a valuable experience, however it is important that a job does not interfere with a child's education."

She added that many employers are not aware the a work permit is necessary when employing children of statutory school age.