Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 11


     
     1        someone who will say:  "People have to step over the flex
     2        when it is taut", then you will be able to tell me that.
     3
     4        At the end of today I am going to say something to
     5        Mr. Rampton about Mr. Purslow about what I expect him to
     6        give evidence and not to give evidence, along the lines
     7        that I do not want Mr. Purslow giving evidence which makes
     8        this comment or that comment in relation to potential
     9        witnesses of yours, in so far as those are matters to which
    10        I can apply my own common sense, as against Mr. Purslow
    11        giving me the benefit of a particular expertise which I do
    12        not have myself.
    13
    14        You have to give me a little bit of credit for common
    15        sense, even if the extent of my common sense has not
    16        appealed to you so far.  You have to work on the basis that
    17        I will reach my own judgment on matters, which I think
    18        I know as much about as anyone else, like tripping over
    19        flexes.  If you feel able to make a comment on it, I will
    20        feel able to form a judgment.  I am saying this because you
    21        must finish your cross-examination today, and I want you
    22        want to deal with the matters which are important to you
    23        today.
    24
    25   MR. MORRIS:  The fact is, Mrs. Barnes, that if people kick wires
    26        that are trailing, especially if they are in a taut
    27        condition, it is going to loosen the wires in the plug, is
    28        it not, that is common sense?
    29        A.  That could happen, particularly if the cable itself was
    30        not in the cable grip, which is the case here.  The other
    31        thing is, obviously, a written statement like this from
    32        Robert Chapman was not available to me at the time.
    33        I could only go on, second party, what he had said.
    34        Therefore, you cannot expect me to have all these facts in
    35        my report.
    36
    37        Secondly, Robert Chapman had the advantage of being there;
    38        I was not.  Therefore I really cannot disagree from his own
    39        subjective view of what happened.  It is his version.  In
    40        doing accident investigations, it is common to find that
    41        two people who saw the same thing will give a completely
    42        different version of it.  So, I cannot say, one way or the
    43        other, whether he is right or wrong.
    44
    45   Q.   Can I ask you one further question about that particular
    46        point?  The distance from the plug to the fat filtering
    47        unit, when it was positioned to be in use, with the wire
    48        trailing in a taut condition, it was not trailing next to
    49        the wall behind the machine, it was trailing to the machine
    50        across the floor, was it not? 
    51        A.  I really cannot ----- 
    52 
    53   Q.   I was not at the store.  You looked at the store; you
    54        checked the incident; you could see where the filtering
    55        unit was; you could see the plug.  If you draw a direct
    56        line, in a taut condition, from the plug to the fat
    57        filtering unit, it would not have been by the skirting
    58        board and out of sight, would it, it would have been across
    59        the floor, yes or no?
    60        A.  I am just trying to remember what the back room looked

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