Day 005 - 04 Jul 94 - Page 72


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  The question is what kind of pressure.
 
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, absolutely.
 
     3   MR. MORRIS:  And how much and who is responsible.  I mean, if
              I just may briefly read out the other shareholdings I am
     4        going to rely upon, but Lance Green's statement, his first
              statement -----
     5
         MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you want to put this to Mr. Preston
     6        because you think he may under cross-examination make a
              concession, please do so.  Do not do it because you feel
     7        obliged to do it.  Mr. Rampton has pointed out it may well
              be that Mr. Preston's on the ground knowledge of this case
     8        is limited.
 
     9   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  I am trying.  Mr. Preston is responsible for
              the company as a whole and just -- all right, very
    10        briefly, I can without reading it all out.  Lance Green
              does go on to say they have a conversation about
    11        increasing sales in his second statement.  He is the
              second assistant manager, by the way.  We are not talking
    12        crew members have a chit-chat.  In his second statement he
              says:  "Fatima Heron the restaurant manageress said to me:
    13        Jasper has been on the phone asking why we have not been
              doing increases and we need to increase sales".  Finally,
    14        in Fatima Heron's statement, she says:  "I received calls
              on that subject (which is increasing sales) on regular
    15        basis from him (Jasper Maudesly) David Board and Paul
              Buckingham.  The sales have been decreasing since August
    16        or September  91 but the week before this incident the
              restaurant had achieved a sales increase.  I did not
    17        therefore" and they used the "therefore", "feel under any
              pressure regarding sales in August/December 91".
    18
              I am not suggesting, Mr. Preston, you wanted anyone to
    19        make a bomb hoax.  I am sure you did not.
              A.  Thank you very much.
    20
         Q.   But we may be making some suggestions from time to time,
    21        but I do not assume that is one of the things you would
              want to happen.  But would you say that here was a
    22        situation where people inside the store were feeling under
              pressure, people in management positions were feeling
    23        under pressure?
              A.  Well, if you let me describe to you the whole, let us
    24        call it, budgeting establishing process involved in
              putting together a restaurant's plan, maybe I could save
    25        you a lot of aggravation.  Can I do that?
  
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  But I think you had better, then Mr. Morris 
              can ask a question about that, if he wants to.  Give us 
    27        the bones of it.
              A.  At the end of the year, typically in the last four or
    28        five months of a year, every management team we have will
              get together with their appropriate supervisor and do an
    29        analysis where they are, and make some projections as to
              where they might go in the new calendar year in terms of
    30        sales growth, in terms of the marketing effort they want
              to employ to build their business; in terms of their

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