Day 216 - 06 02 96 - Page 27

 
 

                                                                  DAY 216
 
 
 
 
 
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you keep your voice up, please,
     3        Mr. Harrison?  That will not help, I am afraid; it is just
     4        for the benefit of the recording machine.  So speak up loud
     5        and clear.
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:  You used to work for McDonald's between
     8        September 1986 and September 1987?
     9        A.  Yes.
    10
    11   Q.   Can you just tell us a little bit about what you have been
    12        doing since then?
    13        A.  I have had a variety of jobs, in fact.  I have worked
    14        for the Co-op; I have worked for the Post Office; I have
    15        also worked very briefly for Pizza Hut; I have been
    16        self-employed; and, currently, I am a psychiatric nurse.
    17
    18   Q.   If you just try and remember to keep your voice up, because
    19        it is hard to hear.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You must speak up, otherwise there is no
    22        point in going into the witness box.  It is not natural for
    23        everyone, but you must do it as a matter of discipline.
    24
    25   MS. STEEL:  If you could get your statement down; it is on the
    26        top shelf behind you, bundle number 2, and you should be in
    27        tab 18.
    28        A.  Yes.
    29
    30   Q.   I will read through your statement, and then if there is
    31        anything that you want to correct or clarify, then stop me
    32        at the end of the relevant paragraph and make whatever
    33        correction or clarification you want to make, and then at
    34        the end I will ask you whether or not you are happy for
    35        that to be taken as your evidence.  OK?  So if you follow
    36        it as I read it.
    37        A.  Right.
    38
    39   Q.  "I worked for McDonald's between September 1986 and
    40        September 1987.  I was employed as a Second Assistant
    41        Manager, training for three months at Colchester, before
    42        being transferred to Ipswich.  I left of my own free will
    43        because of mounting dissatisfaction with the job, the hours
    44        I worked and the Company philosophy in general.
    45
    46        "The following points represent situations which I was
    47        either directly involved in or witnessed at close hand,
    48        and, although they happened mainly in the store where
    49        I spent most of my working time, I have no reason to
    50        believe that they did not happen in other stores, as to a 
    51        large extent they are the product of the attitude of more 
    52        senior Managers. 
    53
    54        "The percentage of labour cost in relation to takings was
    55        of paramount importance in East Anglia and, generally, a
    56        management obsession.  The figure considered acceptable
    57        was, I believe, 18 per cent, and various measures were
    58        employed to control this."
    59        A.  Could I say something?
    60
 
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