Day 292 - 01 Nov 96 - Page 28


     
     1        residents' complaints about environment/index.html">litter over a number of years,
     2        to the store, to McDonald's head office and to the local
     3        council, and in fact even to government minister Nicholas
     4        Scot who was the local MP who had himself written to
     5        McDonald's president Paul Preston as a result, passing on
     6        residents' concerns.
     7
     8        The complaints continued despite the manager Mr. Siddique
     9        laying on a candlelit dinner at the store for local
    10        residents in order to try to have what he called, quote, a
    11        good rapport with them.  We referred to a document which
    12        was a file of dozens of residents associations' letters of
    13        complaint.  And the evidence was that about 1,500 sales a
    14        day were take-away custom, around 50 percent of the store's
    15        business, rising to 60 percent in the summer.  The store
    16        was providing, quote, something like 10,500 potential items
    17        of environment/index.html">litter, unquote, such as bags, straws, cups and napkins,
    18        et cetera.
    19
    20   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Well, hold on.  Was it environment/index.html">litter or waste?
    21
    22   MR. MORRIS:   No, that is what they said.  That is a direct
    23        quote:  Something like 10,500 potential items of environment/index.html">litter.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Oh, potential items?
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:   Yes.  That would be the take-out bulk of items.
    28        Mr. Stump, who was the current manager when he gave
    29        evidence, recognised, quote, there is a lot of McDonald's
    30        environment/index.html">litter, unquote, and admitted that there were, quote, times
    31        when the volume of business is so great and generates so
    32        much environment/index.html">litter that the store cannot effectively deal with it
    33        in the course of a day.
    34
    35        Now, this is all presupposing that they are trying to deal
    36        with it, which I have not come on to yet.  He also said,
    37        quote, I have seen McDonald's environment/index.html">litter in a lot of places not
    38        just around my restaurant, unquote.  Both managers claimed
    39        that trash walks, environment/index.html">litter patrols to pick up all environment/index.html">litter
    40        around the separate nearby streets were done every 30
    41        minutes, approximately, and they claimed this had been done
    42        since the store opened and happened at every store in the
    43        country.
    44
    45        I can't remember if Ms. Steel ever gave evidence....  Both
    46        Mr. Stump and Mr. Siddique agreed that much environment/index.html">litter ended up
    47        far from the store or in local residents' basements, under
    48        cars, or in bushes, et cetera, where it would not be picked
    49        up by the environment/index.html">litter patrol, even if there was one.  Mr. Stump
    50        said that they were, quote, trying to control the
    51        situation, not alleviate it a hundred percent, that would
    52        not be possible.
    53
    54        So we say that based on the evidence of McDonald's own
    55        witnesses there, who are the relevant people on the ground,
    56        if you like -- well, the relevant McDonald's managerial
    57        people, that the situation was out of control even if they
    58        did carry out the environment/index.html">litter patrols that they said that they
    59        did.
    60

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