A FATHER-OF-NINE who starred in a hit television show with Naked Chef Jamie Oliver has been caught kerb-crawling.

Last night, Les Measor told The Northern Echo: "I've made a stupid mistake."

And he appealed to his wife and family: "Please forgive me."

Measor fears that his encounter with a prostitute could ruin his marriage and leave business ventures with his wife, Janice, in tatters.

The 47-year-old appeared at court this week, where he was fined £75 after admitting soliciting a woman for prostitution from a vehicle.

Just before his arrest - in a notorious haunt for prostitutes in Middlesbrough - he had dropped off his teenage daughter at a party.

Police say Measor was caught with the 27-year-old woman in his car, but he says he simply stopped at traffic lights and she started to talk to him.

Measor said he travelled to the town from his home in Peterlee, County Durham, on December 23 last year to buy a laptop computer as a Christmas present for one of his four daughters.

He said he lost his way after leaving the town centre and ended up in Startforth Road, on the Riverside Industrial Estate - a well-known red light area.

Earlier, he had dropped off his 14-year-old daughter at an under-16s Christmas party at the Tall Trees, in nearby Yarm.

After being caught by vice-cops, Measor was not held in custody overnight, as kerb-crawlers usually are, but was allowed to pick up his daughter and report back to police after the festive period.

Last night, he said: "I made a mistake and I'm sorry. People make mistakes. I talked to a woman on the street.

"I had gone shopping and took a wrong turn out of the car park and ended up in some place I didn't even know.

"As I stopped at traffic lights, she opened the door and there was a police car there."

Measor and his family featured on Channel 4 series Jamie's School Dinners, which was filmed last year and shown in February.

For a month, the chef spent three days a week with the family after meeting Mrs Measor, 44, when he visited Eden Community Primary School, Peterlee, last July as part of his healthy eating crusade.

Viewers saw how Mr Oliver, whose campaign to improve school meals has forced the Government into releasing millions of pounds for better menus, was astounded at what he saw when he first visited the house.

Mrs Measor, a Peterlee councillor and school governor, has since told how a change in her family's diet from fast food to home-cooked meals has had a dramatic effect on their children's behaviour and health.

She has also recently launched a tanning and beauty salon with her husband in Peterlee and had plans to open a healthy fish and chip shop.

But the plans could be jeopardised by Measor's court appearance in Middlesbrough.

"Everything my wife has worked for will be destroyed because I made a mistake and stopped at a traffic light where there was a young lady," he said.