Day 064 - 08 Dec 94 - Page 41


     
     1        Abstract of Pleadings.  I cannot find anything about
     2        communications -----
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  At the moment Mr. Oakley is not charged with
     5        who is giving evidence.  He does not know.  He says the
     6        matters are not within his area of responsibility.
     7
     8   MS. STEEL:   I am trying to find out whether -- if one of those
     9        is coming then obviously I can leave it for them.  But
    10        I was told by Mr. Hawkes that if I wanted to ask questions
    11        on this subject I should ask Mr. Oakley.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I appreciate that but you cannot ask someone
    14        questions if they really do not know about it.  You may or
    15        may not find you have actually got a witness you can ask
    16        questions about at the end of the day.  It is entirely up
    17        to those who represent McDonald's as to who they call.  You
    18        can ask questions of those who come into the witness box.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:   I think the problem is where one witness says:
    21         "Oh, you ask so and so about" to shelve their
    22        responsibility, then when you ask the next witness they say
    23        "no".
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  For all we know he may well have thought that
    26        was the accurate answer.  But there you are.  That is the
    27        situation at the moment.  Mr. Oakley has said, in effect,
    28        that he cannot help.
    29
    30   MS. STEEL:   How long have you been in charge of Communications?
    31        A.  Since 1992.
    32
    33   Q.   Mr. Oakley, you said when Mr. Rampton was asking you
    34        questions that you thought that the customer had the right
    35        to know the ingredients of the McDonald's products that
    36        were being sold; is that a personal opinion or is that a
    37        company opinion?
    38        A.  That was a company opinion.
    39
    40   Q.   Right and how long has that been -- for how long has that
    41        been the case?
    42        A.  Well, in the UK since 1984.
    43
    44   Q.   Since 1984?  Are you sure about that?
    45        A.  In the UK, yes.  I was not responsible for those
    46        publications at that time, as you know.  I have only
    47        recently had that responsibility but, to the best of my
    48        knowledge, it was 1984.
    49
    50   Q.   Would you accept it if I told you that even up until 1989 
    51        ingredient information was not available to customers? 
    52        A.  No, I would not accept it. 
    53
    54   Q.   Before the McDonald's "Food - the Facts" published in 1989,
    55        what documents are you aware of which say the ingredients
    56        of the products?
    57        A.  Specifically ingredients?
    58
    59   Q.   Yes.
    60        A.  I am not aware of any specifically on ingredients.

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