A toxic culture of sexual assault, harassment, racism and bullying has been alleged by more than 100 current and recent UK staff at outlets of the fast-food chain McDonald's.

The BBC was told that workers, some as young as 17, are being groped and harassed almost routinely.

The UK equality watchdog said it was "concerned" by the BBC's findings and is launching a new email hotline.

McDonald's said it had "fallen short" and it "deeply apologised".

It added that all employees deserved to work in a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace.

The BBC began investigating working conditions at McDonald's in February, after the company signed a legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in which it pledged to protect its staff from sexual harassment.

At the time, McDonald's insisted: "We already have a strong track record in this area."

But our investigation has revealed a very different picture.

Over a five-month period, we reached out to McDonald's workers to ask about their experiences of working there. Of the more than 100 allegations from employees we spoke to, 31 related to sexual assault, and 78 related to sexual harassment.

We also heard 18 allegations of racism, while six people made allegations of homophobia.

Claims the BBC has heard include:

A 17-year-old current employee in Cheshire who says a colleague 20 years older than her called her a racial slur word and asked to show her his penis, and said he wanted to make a "black and white" baby with her

A former worker who was 17 when a senior manager at a Plymouth restaurant choked her and grabbed her bottom. A shift manager also sent her sexually explicit images

A manager in Hampshire who suggested a 16-year-old male worker perform sexual acts in exchange for vapes

A manager who preyed on 16-year-old new female starters in a Cheshire restaurant, trying to pressurise them into having sex

A woman who said she was called a slur word and subject to racist jokes at an Aberdeen branch

A current worker in Essex who says she faced antisemitic abuse

A current worker in Oxfordshire, originally from India, who says crew members spoke in "gibberish" to imitate her and called a Pakistani colleague a terrorist

Male managers and crew members at a branch in Wales making jokes about putting cash bets on which of them could sleep with a new recruit first

An outbreak of gonorrhoea at a branch in Northern Ireland where sexual relationships between staff members were commonplace

Multiple workers told us that McDonald's managers at the outlets across the UK were responsible for the harassment and assaults.

All too often, senior managers are said to have failed to act on complaints.

Staff have also told the BBC of sexual relationships between managers and more junior members of staff, which is against company policy.

Young women have described feeling constantly judged about how they looked.

One current worker said she was seen by her male colleagues as "fresh meat" when she started at her branch in Nottingham. Other female workers told us they were forced by managers to wear uniforms that were too tight for them.

"There is a saying at McDonald's, "tits on tills" - boys in the kitchen, girls on the counter. The idea is to put attractive people at the front," said Lucy, who's 22 and worked in Norwich.

"It's the expectation that if you work at McDonald's, you will be harassed," added Emily, who's 20. She left her branch in Brighton last year, after a male colleague in his 60s kept stroking her hair in a sexually suggestive way and making her feel uncomfortable.

McDonald's is one of the UK's largest private sector employers. The fast food giant has more than 170,000 people working in 1,450 restaurants.

Its staff are also one of the country's youngest workforces. Three quarters of its employees are aged between 16 and 25. For many, it is their first job.

Most workers are not directly employed by the company as McDonald's uses a franchise system, which means individual operators are licensed to run the outlets and employ the staff.

'I went to work in fear'

Shelby was just 16 when she started working at a McDonald's restaurant in Berkshire last year.

She said older male colleagues would use the cramped layout in the kitchen as an excuse to touch junior female staff inappropriately.

"They'd grope stomach, waists, bums," she said. "Every shift I worked, there would be at least a comment being made, or I'd be brushed, a hand brushed across me, or it would be a more severe thing, like having my bum grabbed, hips grabbed." (BBC)