Day 085 - 08 Feb 95 - Page 46


     
     1
     2   Q.   Mr. Wignall said in his statement they were required to be
     3        undertaken weekly.  Has it changed now, changed to daily?
     4        A.  This would encompass all the calibrations that needed
     5        to be undertaken weekly.  Some would be broken out on to
     6        each day, so under each day you would do a certain task.
     7        Some tasks would have to be done twice per week.
     8
     9   Q.   You say in paragraph 9 -- well, it is Mr. Wignall's
    10        statement but you have adopted it -- that neither the
    11        source nor the cause of the Preston incident was ever
    12        clearly identified.  "McDonald's decided that they should
    13        take comprehensive measures to ensure that, as far as
    14        possible, no such incident should occur in the future".
    15        What do you know about the incident?
    16        A.  What I know about the incident was that at the time of
    17        the Preston incident I was Operations Manager in Anglia.
    18        Some time after the Preston incident -- we heard that
    19        someone in Preston had got food poisoning that was
    20        associated, possibly associated, with a restaurant.  That
    21        was it, really.  Could you tell me where I am -----
    22
    23   Q.   Paragraph 9 of the statement.  It is page 53.  You have
    24        found it?
    25        A.  Yes.
    26
    27   Q.   Have you actually read this statement of Mr. Wignall?
    28        A.  Read it through in great detail many times.
    29
    30   Q.   The "comprehensive measures" that were taken as a result of
    31        this outbreak of food poisoning, can you just tell us what
    32        they were, not in detail but just tell us what?
    33        A.  Could I just read through this paragraph to
    34        refamiliarise myself, please?
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    37        A.  Yes.  I think, really, what Preston did was to focus
    38        our attention on this area and a lot of the -- whether it
    39        was us or not, the impact of an incident like this
    40        associated with our store really focused our minds on doing
    41        whatever we could to record and prevent such things
    42        happening again.  I think at the time, I cannot remember
    43        comprehensive measures being taken as regards what happened
    44        in the operation, other than checking the temperature time
    45        of the grill more frequently.  I think the comprehensive
    46        measures are things that have happened from 1991 to date of
    47        which there are a substantial number.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The two measures which are mentioned there
    50        are more rigorous calibration checks and increasing cooking 
    51        times; was there anything else done --- 
    52        A.  I do not think ------ 
    53
    54   Q.   -- which might be considered to be a comprehensive measure?
    55        A.  I do not think there is anything else done immediately
    56        after -- this is from my viewpoint as what was asked of me
    57        as an Operations Manager -- but I know subsequently to the
    58        safety of beef, there has been substantial comprehensive
    59        other measures taken to cover off every possible angle on
    60        this issue.

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