McDonald’s is facing allegations of widespread abuse and harassment as over 100 current and recent UK staff speak out against the fast food giant.

Workers speaking to the BBC claim they are groped almost routinely in the workplace, with the devastating probe prompting the UK’s equality watchdog to launch an email hotline specifically for such abuses.

McDonald’s has “deeply apologised” after the findings emerged, adding they had “fallen short”.

The workers spoke to the outlet over a five-month period, during which they revealed 31 allegations related to sexual assault, and 78 related to sexual harassment.

Staff also made a total of 18 allegations of racism, and six allegations of homophobia, and said managers failed to act on complaints.

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In February McDonald’s made a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), meaning the restaurant group needed to commit to a number of measures to better protect workers.

Shelby, who was just 16 when she started working for the chain in Berkshire last year, said that older male colleagues would use the cramped layout of the kitchen to touch younger female staff. She said she was “warned” away from one man in particular, who later came up behind her, grabbed her and pulled her onto his groin.

One now former employee, aged just 17, said she was grabbed on the bum and choked by a senior manager at a restaurant, and added that a shift manager sent her sexually explicit images.

Another manager is accused of preying on 16-year-old new female starters in a Cheshire restaurant, trying to pressurise them into having sex.

McDonald’s employs over 170,000 people across 1,450 restaurants in the UK and is one of the country’s largest private sector employees.

However it is also one of the country’s youngest workforces. Due to the licensing system McDonald’s uses, people are often not directly employed by the company.

The investigation comes just four years after 1,000 women reported they had been subjected to sexual harassment and abuse while working at McDonald’s restaurants, according to the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union.

Another teen, still working for the chain, said a colleague decades older than her called her a racial slur and asked to show her his penis and said he wanted to make a “black and white” baby with her.

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland a gonorrhea outbreak reportedly occurred at a restaurant due to sexual relations being so common among staff.

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And one current employee, formally from India, said that the crew spoke to her in “gibberish” to imitate her and called a Pakistani colleague a terrorist.

Company managers bear the brunt of many of the accusations, with staff also reporting sexual relations between them and junior members of staff despite this being against company policy.

One young woman said she and her colleagues were seen as “fresh meat”, with others saying they were forced to wear uniforms that were too tight.

A 22-year-old woman told the outlet: “There is a saying at McDonald’s, ‘tits on tills’ – boys in the kitchen, girls on the counter.”

Other young employees say they didn’t complain as they couldn’t risk jeopardising their work – and are often on zero hour contracts.

Alistair Macrow, CEO, McDonald’s UK & Ireland, said: “Every one of the 177,000 employees in McDonald’s UK deserves to work in a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace. There are clearly instances where we have fallen short and for that we deeply apologise.

“There is simply no place for harassment, abuse, or discrimination of any kind at McDonald’s – and we will investigate all allegations brought to us, and all proven breaches of our code of conduct will be met with the most severe measures we can legally impose, up to and including dismissal.

“In February this year McDonald’s UK committed with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to a zero-tolerance approach to any kind of harassment. This is supported by a companywide programme of training, the roll out of new policies and strict reporting processes, all aimed at offering the highest possible level of workplace protection for all our employees.

“Already over 2,000 of our managers have completed full awareness training and nearly all of our restaurant teams are now working within these new protections aimed at creating a safe and respectful workplace.

“All of this is backed by McDonald’s Global Standards, a set of stringent and non-negotiable guardrails to ensure safe and respectful workplaces, which we expect of all colleagues and Franchisees across the world.”

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