CRISIS talks over the continuing hot school meals fiasco will take place today.

Dorset County Council has called for a meeting to hold meal-supplier Chartwells “to account” after days of disruption and problems.

On Tuesday, Mudeford Infants School failed to have any food delivered to them with teachers and helpers forced to get food themselves for the children, although yesterday the meals arrived.

And parents of children in Poole have been told that they won’t have hot meals for two weeks but will be delivered packed lunches instead.

A spokesperson for the county council said around “five per cent” of its schools had suffered problems this week largely because one of the company’s kitchen units in Ferndown was badly damaged by a fire in August.

She added: “Chartwells is working to ensure that a new, replacement unit will be fully operational by October half term.”

Cllr Toni Coombs, cabinet member for education, confirmed she would be attending a meeting with the managing director of Chartwells where she will be “holding them to account for the failures in delivering the contract.”

Rachel Gravett, children’s commissioner for Bournemouth Council, will also be attending the meeting.

She said: “It is clear that Chartwells have failed to deliver on the universal free school meals offer as expected for some Bournemouth schools.”

A spokesperson from the Borough of Poole added: “Since Chartwells informed schools on Monday that they would be providing packed lunches for children, while they resolve issues with their hot meals service, we have been directly contacted by parents seeking more information.

“Chartwells have now written to parents explaining the current situation and will provide an update later this week on when they can return to a hot meal service.”

A spokesperson for Chartwells said the company had “experienced some challenges” after a fire destroyed a kitchen facility.

“We completely understand the concern and inconvenience that this has caused and we have apologised to those affected,” he said, adding that Chartwells is working closely with local authorities.

“We are building a new local kitchen facility in order to resume our normal service. Whilst this is under construction, we have taken the decision to provide those schools that were due to receive hot meals with packed lunches on a temporary basis. Given this change in approach, we are currently recruiting and training the additional people we need,” he added.