A hand wash basin containing defrosting fish (in white bag) underneath an open packet of raw mince and a sink designated for washing equipment containing a dish of liquid egg.(Image: Vale of Glamorgan Council)

Photos show grim state of food truck as award-winning chef appears in court

by · Wales Online

An award-winning chef who once had people queueing for his lobster thermidor roll and high-end burgers has been fined £384 and ordered to pay costs of £2,283.75 after admitting criminal offences over food hygiene at his street food van. Jamie O’Leary, who ran JOL’s Food Truck in Ogmore-by-Sea, told Cardiff Magistrates' Court that he now works as an agency chef when he appeared for sentencing on December 11.

O'Leary, who had pleaded guilty to 17 charges at an earlier hearing, won acclaim after his restaurant JOL’s opened in 2015 in Merthyr Tydfil High Street. Six years later he switched from bricks and mortar to a JOL’s van which was based at the Rivermouth coastal car park in Ogmore-by-Sea.

More praise followed including a British Street Food award in 2021. But the business has closed and O’Leary, 42, was taken to Cardiff Magistrates’ Court by Vale of Glamorgan Council. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter

Chef Jamie O'Leary proudly holding lobster thermidor sold from his seaside food van(Image: WalesOnline/ Rob Browne)

Sentencing O’Leary, Judge Stephen Harmes said the chef had sent in “a full raft of glowing references” regarding his professionalism but had been under pressure personally at the time of the offences, which took place on four dates between May and August last year. Judge Harmes said he had taken several issues into mitigation regarding O’Leary’s “highly unusual” case.

The judge told the court: “At this time in his life he was in distress and his record is exemplary. The whole point of being a judge is to judge and my view is that we will never see him here (in court) again.”

The offences came about due to O’Leary’s lack of attention, an untrained member of staff and personal circumstances that had “distracted him”at the time, the judge added. Told that O’Leary is no longer trading but earns between £350 and £400 a week working as a chef for an unnamed agency, the judge suggested his talents would still be much sought after, to which O’Leary replied that they were not so much.

Inside JOLs Food Truck in Ogmore-by-Sea(Image: Vale of Glamorgan Council)
Drinks can and packaging on the floor of the truck(Image: Vale of Glamorgan Council)

At a hearing in August O’Leary pleaded guilty to the following offences:

  • Keeping food which was likely to support the growth of pathogenic micro-organisms or the formation of toxins at a temperature above 8C;
  • Failing to ensure food was protected against any contamination likely to make it unfit for human consumption or contaminated;
  • Failing to ensure appropriate facilities available to maintain personal hygiene, including for the washing and drying of hands;
  • Failing to keep a label on the packaging of live bivalve molluscs — which were not in individual consumer-size packages — for at least 60 days after splitting the contents;
  • Four counts of failing to ensure premises were kept clean and maintained in good repair to prevent risk of contamination;
  • Three counts of failing to ensure all equipment with which food could come into contact was effectively cleaned and disinfected;
  • Three counts of failing to put in place a permanent procedure based on the HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point);
  • Two counts of failing to ensure food handlers were properly supervised, instructed and / or trained in food hygiene matters;
  • Failing to comply with a hygiene improvement notice.
A spatula and dirty stainless steel container holding raw bacon next to the grill ready for cooking at JOLs Food Truck in Ogmore-by-Sea(Image: Vale of Glamorgan Council)
The state of the grill(Image: Vale of Glamorgan Council)

O’Leary, of Pontsarn Close in Pontsarn, Merthyr Tydfil, trained as a chef at The Hardwick near Abergavenny. In 2022 we reported his JOL’s van was attracting “queues stretching down to the rocks at the edge of the seafront” with its lobster thermidor roll and high-end burgers.

After the case concluded Cllr Ruba Sivagnanam, Vale of Glamorgan Council cabinet member for community engagement, equalities and regulatory services, said: “Hygiene ratings are important. They refer to the standards and behaviours within a business and are a key reference for customers.

“Food outlets need to satisfy a range of specific criteria to gain each rating, from one to five. There are no shortcuts to achieving this – it requires a commitment to good practice. This business was given a rating of zero after inspectors found numerous various hygiene violations over a sustained period of time.

“Hygiene ratings are vital assessments of food outlets and anyone found to be doctoring or hiding them will also face serious consequences." Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news