Day 121 - 04 May 95 - Page 02


     
     1                                      Thursday, 4th May 1995.
     2
     3   MR. MORRIS:  Before we start, I wanted to say that before
     4        Mr. Stein is reconsidered or whatever, that my son's school
     5        holidays start on Friday 21st July.  Obviously, I
     6        shall find difficulties if the whole time I was going to be
     7        expected to be in court.  I have given the Plaintiffs the
     8        official schedule for the school holidays for the rest of
     9        this year and up to the summer of next year, so that they
    10        are aware of all the difficulties that I will be
    11        encountering in the scheduling of time.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will say no more at this stage, but you
    14        must do your best to arrange for someone for that last week
    15        of this term, because I do not want to lose a week or any
    16        significant part of it at the end of term, but come back to
    17        me later about that.
    18
    19               MR. SIDNEY THOMAS NICHOLSON, recalled.
    20             Cross-examined by the Defendants, continued.
    21
    22   MR. MORRIS:  Mr. Nicholson, I want to ask you about how a store
    23        becomes "Store of the Year".
    24        A.  That is an Operational decision.  You would have to
    25        direct that question to someone from Operations.  It is --
    26        I do not know.
    27
    28   Q.   Not the exact technicalities, but what does it mean?  Is
    29        there an enquiry into the store?
    30        A.  No, no, the stores are regularly visited by supervisory
    31        staff who carry out audits, operational audits, security
    32        audits, personnel audits, financial audits, and I take it,
    33        it is the store that gets the highest score, those audits
    34        award marks.  I take it it is the store that gets the most
    35        marks throughout the year, because they are visited more
    36        than once, maybe three, four, seven times a year.  It would
    37        be the store who gets the highest average annual mark would
    38        make Store of the Year.
    39
    40   Q.   So its business is checked quite a lot?
    41        A.  Yes.  As I say, it would be wiser to ask that of
    42        someone from Operations, someone with Operational
    43        experience.  I have never been involved in selecting Store
    44        or Manager or Supervisor of the Year.
    45
    46   Q.   But as Head of Personnel, as far as personnel practices go,
    47        the Store of the Year would be expected to have exemplary
    48        personnel?
    49        A.  Yes, sure.  The personnel audit means as much in
    50        defining who is Store of the Year as any of the other 
    51        audits. 
    52 
    53   Q.   When a store becomes Store of the Year, does that mean it
    54        is a fluke for that store, or does it mean that it has
    55        obviously been building up an impressive practice over a
    56        period of time?
    57        A.  It means it has been performing extremely well.
    58
    59   Q.   Not just with when the audits are carried out?
    60        A.  No, they are unannounced and announced visits.  There

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