Mrs Shonagh Mitchell, Largoward, says she has been ''disgusted'' at the treatment meted out to her daughter, Alexandra (24), by a local restaurant which has branches nationwide.

"Having recently successfully completed her HNC in Law, but finding it extremely difficult to obtain employment in this field, she decided to apply to various local restaurants for work as a waitress and applied in person to Pizza Express," she explained.

"She was interviewed, then asked to come in for a trial five hour shift from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday and given a uniform to wear. She arrived and worked hard.

"The restaurant was busy with queues for tables, she did not at any time have a minute to sit down. At the end of her shift she was told to keep her uniform and that she'd be contacted for further shifts."

Mrs Mitchell said her daughter later phoned the restaurant about rotas only to be told someone would contact her on the Monday.

In the meantime another restaurant she had interviewed for offered her a position which she turned down in favour of Pizza Express as she understood she'd been taken on there.

"On Monday, (August 4) a man phoned from Pizza Express to say they had offered the job to someone else more suitable. She was upset but asked about pay for the five hours she'd worked on the Thursday evening, only to be told the restaurant did not pay for trial shifts.

"This strikes me as being a very economical way to staff a restaurant. At no time was my daughter told that her shift would be unpaid, had she been told this, she would not have agreed to work it.

"I would ask everyone who eats in this restaurant to ask their waitress or waiter if they are on a trial shift and if they are, to warn them they will not be getting paid for the hard work that they do," said Mrs Mitchell.

She said Pizza Express did give her daughter a meal at end of her shift and later offered her a free meal which she declined.

"She is now to be paid for her five hours of work. In order for that to happen, she has to be put on the payroll and has been told it will take four to five weeks for that to come through."

Despite several approaches to Pizza Express, no response other than that the incident had arisen due to: "a misunderstanding" was available from their press spokesman.