Celebrity chef wins gagging order on claims by former staff

A celebrity chef today won a gagging order preventing the press reporting the claims of two disaffected ex-employees.

The order, imposed at an employment tribunal, will fuel the outcry about the restrictions on freedom of speech in the growing number of super-injunctions granted in the courts.

The new order requires the chef to be known only as L and his business as K Ltd. It was granted this morning at a preliminary hearing before the London Central Employment Tribunal.

No reasons were given for the restrictions. The order is to be challenged by lawyers representing a number of national newspapers.

Tom Lyndon, the chef's lawyer, told the hearing he was afraid that disclosing evidence to the newspapers' legal departments could see it shared with reporters "by accident".

The two employees variously claim unfair dismissal, age discrimination, a failure to provide a written contract of employment and non-payment of wages. Specific details of their backgrounds and roles cannot be revealed without breaching the order.

Lawyers for the chef and for one of the claimants asked for the temporary order and are expected to apply to make it permanent at a future hearing.