Day 209 - 25 Jan 96 - Page 28


     
     1        room that worked and you might well send somebody up there
     2        to go and get it, but you would immediately try and fix the
     3        toaster you had downstairs because that toaster was already
     4        hot and another toaster would take 20 minutes to heat up,
     5        and in 20 minutes you can lose your whole lunchtime
     6        business.  You know, saying to people, "No, you cannot have
     7        a hamburger" was the last thing you wanted to do.
     8
     9   Q.   Can I ask you where these blue plasters were on the
    10        toasters?
    11        A.  Well, I remember a couple of times opening up the back
    12        of a regular toaster and finding a blue plaster in both,
    13        and just, you know -----
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just over where leads had come loose, or
    16        connections, or what?
    17        A.  Inside where leads had come loose, instead of soldering
    18        back on, there have just been running repairs, like I say,
    19        a blue plaster had been stuck on to it to hold it to where
    20        -- they were not -- I am not talking about cables that
    21        were carrying high voltage or anything; I am talking about
    22        the little ones that controlled the lights and the timers
    23        and stuff.  If any of those had come apart, you know, you
    24        would open it up, see if there were any loose wires and try
    25        and fix it.  You know, I fixed a couple myself, and I did
    26        not know what I was doing, you know; and all I did was
    27        screw them back in.  I cannot say I ever used the blue
    28        plasters, but I definitely saw them being used.  There were
    29        a couple of gags about it.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause.  Yes.
    32
    33   MR. MORRIS:  Just one question on that:  would it have been
    34        normal for people to look inside a toaster?
    35        A. Not normal.  It would not be normal for people to take
    36        toasters apart or anything, but on a couple of occasions I
    37        have done it and I have seen other Managers doing it, if
    38        something is broken and it is the only one there at the
    39        time, you initially want to try and repair it as quickly as
    40        you can.
    41
    42   Q.   What I meant is that -- I mean, it is no secret; other
    43        witnesses have said they have not seen the blue plasters.
    44        But would it be normal to look inside the toaster or would
    45        people just look at the outside?
    46        A.  No, they would not look inside.  It is all covered up.
    47        It would only be a Manager that would look inside it.
    48
    49   Q.   Right.
    50        A.  Because I think Jagon was quite a competent chap, and 
    51        I have read in the service report it says he is qualified. 
    52        If he is qualified, I never realised he was qualified at 
    53        all, but used to be -- you know, he used to be able make a
    54        ketchup dispenser out of a toaster, and he, you know,
    55        rigged up different things like that for people from
    56        stuff.  There was lots of broken equipment in the equipment
    57        room, and he used to butcher bits of it and make other
    58        things out of it that the store needed.  It would save on
    59        ordering stuff.
    60

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