Schoolboy threatened with suspension after making £14k selling crisps
A 15-year-old schoolboy has been threatened with suspension after making £14,000 selling sweets to pals in the playground.
Budding businessman Tommie Rose has made a fortune by selling chocolate, crisps and fizzy drinks to pupils at Buile Hill High School, Salford. He buys them in bulk and sells them at competitive prices, even employing two mates to help run his business, paying them £5.50 a day. He says the money will go towards his university tuition fees.
But now Tommie’s business empire is under threat because the school says it breaches their strict healthy-eating policy and he has been accused of running a ‘black market' on sweet treats.
Tommie, from Ordsall, started selling the snacks three years ago after being inspired by TV shows Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice. He's already racked up 10 days of suspension from his old school, the Oasis Academy in Salford, as punishment for his trade in September 2011.
Tommie said he has his sights set on a top business degree from prestigious Oxford or Cambridge.
Parents Gary, 33, an office worker, and gym manager Tracy, also 33, describe themselves ‘council estate born and bred’ - and say they would struggle to pay £9,000-a-year tuition fees.