Celebrity chef Stephen Terry, who represented Wales on the BBC's Great British Menu, has denied claims of sexual discrimination made by pastry chef, at an employment tribunal in  Cardiff. Chloe Maisey, 19, from Merthyr, made 21 allegations about working as a chef at Terry's Hardwick restaurant, nearly Abergavenny, reports BBC News.

Terry, who trained under Marco Pierre White at Harveys in Wandsworth, said that restaurants are "pressurised and there is a bit of banter."

He said he was shocked after Ms Maisey's mother claimed keys were taken from the teenager's handbag, vacuum packed and put high on a wall. Ms Maisey claimed another chef had threatened to kill her.

"Running a restaurant is very pressurised and there is a little bit of banter - it's not a daily occurrence," said Mr Terry.

"I have seen people take keys and move people's car around the corner so they can't find it. I have seen people hide in a freezer and jump out to scare somebody.

"Everyone has a right to say something if they experience or see something they don't like.

"If she was so distressed about all these incidents then she could have told me about just one of them.

"But at no point ever did she tell me about any of these alleged incidents."

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Mr Terry told the hearing that the first time he heard of any alleged sexual discrimination was when Ms Maisey's mother phoned the restaurant. He asked her to put the allegations in writing, but she never did.

"We have had over 100 female employees at the Hardwick and this is something completely new to us," said Mr Terry.

"These allegations are very serious and if that was my daughter making these allegations I wouldn't have been phoning up."

The father of three said he was a "family man" and took great responsibility when looking after someone else's child.

He said: "At no point did Chloe come to me and say, 'chef, sort this out'.

"She could have asked for a word, there were plenty of people she could have spoken to.

"If these alleged incidents took place I was never given an opportunity to do anything about it. That to me is devastating."

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