A hairdresser claims obese workers ruined her business and lost her clients by prioritising food over customers.

Zena Claire claims three former staff at her salon in Barnsley, south Yorkshire, were obese and faked appointments so they could sneak out to get takeaways. They also turned up eating a McDonald's when they should have been starting their shift.

The 42-year-old mother of two said the three obese girls she employed caused her to lose clients and will make her think twice about employing severely overweight people in future.

A salon owner said obese employees ruined her business after they booked in fake clients so they could go out on breaks or finish early to eat takeaways, or brought in fast food to eat before they started work

She said: 'It had a massive impact on my business.

'They were going to eat food rather than looking after clients. They were pretending to book clients in, having extended breaks and finishing early to go to the chippy.'

Ms Claire estimates the three workers would book up to five fake appointments a week, costing her a considerable amount of money in lost bookings. She said when the non-existent clients did not turn up they could use the time to do nothing, or go out and get a KFC.

She said they also brought in a McDonald's, which they would eat in the staff room at the start of the day - often cutting up to 40 minutes into their shifts.

She told the Sun: 'One day five packs of caramel biscuits I'd left out were eaten all at once, along with two litres of orange juice.'

'I lost clients and product sales all because they prioritised food over work,' she added.

The hairdresser said she will not ban obese people working for her in future because she will offer everyone an equal chance but the experience has made her think twice as she must base her decision on 'production value.'

She claimed the girls were not attentive to clients and their lives 'revolved around food.'

Experts said the difficulty in getting a job if you are obese is quite prevalent among overweight people

About one in every four adults in the UK are classed as obese, and it is known that larger people often face obstacles in getting jobs.

Tam Fry, director of the National Obesity Forum, said: 'Unfortunately it is quite prevalent that if you are overweight or fat and you are in a position where the public sees you or you are an ambassador of the establishment then there's a huge tendency not to give a job to anybody who isn't regarded by society as being as 'perfect' as possible.

'Also there are many jobs where being overweight actually could be a real problem at times of emergency.

'It's a truism to say that if you are fat, fat in the sense of just appearing to be fat, that's going to work against you. That's a very big wake-up call for young people to take a grip on themselves.'

Ms Claire claims her three workers would book fake appointments so they could go out to get takeaways

Mr Fry said the question of obese workers was a difficult one in the beauty industry because if a person can do a job not allowing them to do so because of their weight is discrimination. However he said image is an important factor in the beauty industry, and any issues the employer has with their work must also be taken into consideration.

Last year a survey of HR and recruitment professionals in America found that half of employers find obesity to be an undesirable trait.

The study by researchers from Virginia Tech and the University at Buffalo found that when faced with the option of two candidates with identical qualities - the only difference being that one is obese - more than half of respondents said they would prefer to hire the candidate with a more healthy weight.