Day 202 - 11 Jan 96 - Page 28
1 MR. MORRIS: Otherwise, I have a right to test that.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, you do not. You only have a right to ask
4 questions as I allow them to be asked.
5
6 MS. STEEL: There is also the point is that the Plaintiffs' case
7 is that Ray Coton was a road Manager and everybody else was
8 doing everything by the book, and that all the problems are
9 just down to Ray Coton; and it must be the case that we are
10 entitled to test that.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I do not want you to. It is not going to
13 help me. When we get to what happened between Neil Skehel
14 and Ray Coton in 1991, I will listen patiently, but I am
15 not only not going to listen patiently, I am not going to
16 listen at all to this point; and that is my ruling on it.
17
18 MS. STEEL: To be honest, I really do not think this case is
19 fair at all. I think that we are being prevented from
20 testing the evidence of the Plaintiffs' witnesses by
21 spurious objections by Mr. Rampton. Our right to
22 cross-examine witnesses is not being defended.
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have made my ruling, Ms. Steel. I am
25 trying to keep you on to what is really relevant and which
26 will be helpful.
27
28 MR. MORRIS: As long as the Plaintiffs have also got their eye
29 on the ball, as well.
30
31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Carry on with your cross-examination, but
32 bear it in mind.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness) The B grades were the average
35 grades, were they not, for this region for quality
36 standards during 1991?
37 A. I do not know if you can just say B grades were the
38 average grades -----
39
40 Q. B grade would be an average kind of grade for the stores in
41 the region that you were responsible for, for quality?
42 A. Yes. B grades were achieved by most of the
43 restaurants, yes.
44
45 Q. Including Colchester High Street, under Ray Coton?
46 A. Yes. I believe his full field results achieved Bs on
47 quality, yes.
48
49 Q. Yes. So the reason you gave at the beginning of your
50 evidence about high crew turnover and quality standards
51 meaning that you concluded that Colchester was a problem is
52 completely false, is it not, because the kind of crew
53 turnover problems at Colchester were typical throughout the
54 region and the kind of quality standards at Colchester were
55 typical throughout the region? So what was the real
56 reason?
57 A. I am not sure if you have actually read the reviews
58 here, because it seems to me impossible to draw that
59 conclusion from that. Talking about crew turnover, if you
60 -- I know you said not to look at these, but I think it
