A former panellist on The Apprentice has warned school pupils that getting tattoos can affect their chances of getting a job.

Dr Margaret Mountford, 64, who starred on the BBC show for several years, issued the controversial advice during a visit to Benenden School.

She shared her views about tattoos with pupils during a visit to support the school’s new professional skills programme.

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Elaborating on her tattoo thoughts in a later interview with the Sunday Times, Dr Mountford said: “They are a real problem for young people because there are swathes of the workplace where it is simply not appropriate to be greeted by a young person with a tattoo.

“In a reception area of a major company you do not want to be met by a young person with a tattoo up their arm.

“If you work in a hairdresser’s salon people do not want to see a tattooed arm washing their hair or in a restaurant serving them food. It is not hygienic.

“Some people seem to think tattoos are like jewellery but not to me and not to many others.

“When I talk to people my age who have had tattoos, and they are usually men, they always regret it.”

Dr Mountford expressed her distaste for body ink on the first full day of the school’s new professional skills programme last Friday, which has been launched partly in response to comments from business leaders about the lack of such skills in graduates.

Benenden School is one of the first schools in the UK to offer a course dedicated to teaching girls general skills for the workplace and Dr Mountford, one of Lord Sugar’s original advisers on The Apprentice show, helped them in a business challenge.

The programme for the sixth form includes teamwork, having the confidence to turn an idea into a business proposition, giving a business pitch, developing business plans and reading complex financial information.

Dr Mountford said: “This country’s economy thrives on the dynamism and ideas of the next generation of businesspeople so it is essential that we are equipping them with the skills they need to maximise this potential.

“Everybody would no doubt agree that IT skills, numeracy and literacy are essential to be able to flourish in the modern workplace, but far less attention is paid to skills such as successfully pitching an idea or identifying a new product’s target market.

“I congratulate Benenden on launching this new professional skills programme and hope that other schools will follow suit.”

Benenden headmistress Samantha Price said: “The employment landscape is becoming increasingly competitive and young people need more than excellent academic qualifications to both secure a good job and then to thrive. Our programme is designed to support the latter.

“I hope other schools will see the value of offering such a programme and we would be delighted to work with other schools to help them develop something similar.”

Dr Mountford offered the sixth formers guidance, spoke to the entire school in the evening about her career and answered questions.

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