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@James Bowers - In this case breaches of food hygiene would be offences, ie within the ambit of criminal law, surely - but your point is well taken and this goes to what I was querying.

@Anon 11:20 - "Necessity is the mother of invention", of course, and just because a person has developed the ability to take a food order on the phone, it doesn't mean they are anywhere near fluent enough to properly participate in a Court hearing.

Your client may have been a little modest with his level of English but in many many cases, there is, of course, a real language gap between what is used to "get by" and what is needed for formal proceedings.