£18,000 for the waitress taunted over her red hair

Sarah Primmer, 41, told a tribunal she was bullied and harassed about the colour of her hair as she worked in a kebab shop.

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The mother of three said staff and bosses would go from questioning her about her hair to asking about her sex life.

Miss Primmer admitted she was stunned by the amount of the award but said the abuse had affected her confidence and self-esteem.

"They asked me if my head hair was the same colour as the rest of my body hair," she said. "They thought it was funny and liked to see me going red in the face with embarrassment.

"I was called Duracell and Copper Knob at school - you expect that from kids, but not when you are in your 40s."

An employment tribunal in Exeter heard the insults started after she accepted a waitressing job at the Rendezvous Cafe in Plymouth.

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Miss Primmer, who is also a grandmother, said: "I was brought up to respect my colleagues but they made comments about my hair and sex life."

She claimed her self-esteem was ruined by the onslaught.

After she was sacked from the job, she began dying her hair blonde in the hope of escaping further taunts.

"I am trying to go more blonde and my hair is going lighter and lighter," she said.

"It certainly is not nice to be ginger. My three girls have blonde and jet-black hair. I am so glad they don't have red hair."

The employment tribunal heard Miss Primmer, of Plymouth, was routinely subjected to a barrage of innuendo and sexual taunts.

Colleagues would question her over the size of her breasts and ask intimate details about her sex life and sexual preferences.

Miss Primmer, who represented herself, told the tribunal: "During my employment up to my dismissal, I was regularly sexually harassed by my employers.

"They would make lewd and embarrassing comments about me and ask me intimate questions about my personal life.

"I believe these amounted to sex discrimination and intimidation and cannot believe I would have been subjected to these incidents if I wasn't a woman.

"I have been in lots of jobs and no one mentioned the colour of my hair. When I complained I was told I was racist."

She claimed unfair dismissal and sexual harassment against four respondents including Mayflowers Kebabs Ltd - none of whom turned up for the hearing.

Christa Christensen, the tribunal chairman, awarded a total of £17,618 in compensation for lost wages and injury to feelings, which included £9,000 for the sexual harassment.

She said staff at the kebab shop - which paid employees under the national minimum wage - had a "flagrant disregard" for employment practices and were "entirely cavalier".