Day 171 - 11 Oct 95 - Page 37
1 see when you look at the employment evidence overall --
2 and, indeed, perhaps all the evidence, but particularly the
3 employment evidence -- is that the Company does take steps
4 to ensure that its policies are enforced in practice and
5 that when things go wrong it does actually deal with them.
6 So that is, I quite agree, a feature of the case.
7
8 It has never troubled me, as I have said repeatedly to your
9 Lordship, as a feature of the case that from time to time
10 in X, Y or Z-ville, a manager or whatever, a restaurant,
11 may get things wrong; that does not trouble me in the
12 least.
13
14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is what I had in mind about a memo, memos
15 as well, by the same line of thinking. So suppose there is
16 no F performance reviews, but there is a D or an E for
17 something else, and then one finds that there is a memo
18 saying: "If you only did this, you would not have that
19 trouble in the future", Mr. Morris would say that I should
20 attach significance to the fact it has gone wrong in the
21 first place, and you would say: "Well, no. Things do go
22 wrong." It was Mr. Beavers, was it not, who said: "We make
23 mistakes now and again, but we get to grips with them and
24 make sure they do not happen in the future"?
25
26 MR. RAMPTON: I have to say that I think that is true of all the
27 leading McDonald's witnesses and, indeed, some of the
28 others as well. Seen like that, I have absolutely no
29 problem with it at all. My fear is that, as ever -- I do
30 not know this for certain -- maybe we get an audit form
31 which says that the store is doing badly in this area or
32 that; then Mr. Morris and Ms. Steel get obsessed by what
33 happened in that particular case, and we spend another I do
34 not know how many hours or days of trial investigating
35 whether or not that particular criticism was well founded
36 or not. One cannot assume from the fact that Head Office
37 says "We are not happy with this" that it was the case.
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It seems to me there is a limit as to the
40 amount of time which could be spent, because all we are
41 contemplating at the moment is possible recall of
42 Mr. Richards, who will by then have looked at any documents
43 which your experience and judgment tells you he may be
44 asked about on recall -- and fair enough that you would not
45 approach him about any criticisms you do find, if any -----
46
47 MR. RAMPTON: There are bound to be some.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We have Mr. Logan. We might or might not have
50 at the end of the day two or three other witnesses.
51 Mr. Morris has not suggested it would arise, but if it did
52 arise I would not favour any suggestion that one of the
53 higher executives be recalled in order that it be put to
54 them it is symptomatic of some general disease. That does
55 not appeal to me at all. To be fair to Mr. Morris, he has
56 not suggested that. I would obviously hear any argument
57 about it, and it would either appeal or not appeal.
58
59 But I am not trying to persuade you. I am just putting
60 forward, so that you can deal with them if you wish,
