Day 121 - 04 May 95 - Page 55


     
     1        worked there.  I am sorry, but Patel to an Indian is like
     2        Smith to English.
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  And, particularly, the kind of business you
     5        are in?
     6        A.  Yes, yes, so I cannot say I know him.  I may -----
     7
     8   Q.   Anyway, that particular Mr. Patel does not ring any bells
     9        with you?
    10        A.  No.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why do you not just put the circumstances
    13        which you are concerned about?
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:  Mr. Patel said:  "For every an hour an employee
    16        worked, 35 pence was allocated to him.  Therefore, if an
    17        employee worked for eight hours, a total of £2.80 was
    18        allocated to him for his meal.  This £2.80 was then used to
    19        pay for his meal according to the retail price of the
    20        food.  However, if the retail price of the food went up,
    21        the free meal allowance did not.  Therefore, a person would
    22        work the same hours, yet would be forced because of the
    23        price increase to eat less".  But you are not aware of this
    24        being the Company policy?
    25        A.  Oh, no, it is not Company policy.  The policy changes
    26        up and down the country.  In some markets the Market
    27        Manager says:  "This is what you will do" and he lays this
    28        down to his Managers.  In other markets, it will be left to
    29        the Store Manager to set his own target, but it is a
    30        benefit and it would be looked at and we would be dismayed
    31        if staff were not adequately fed freely.
    32
    33   Q.   Freely?  What, so they can have as much as they want?
    34        A.  No, without paying.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are going round and round now.  He has
    37        said what his experience was.  You will call your evidence
    38        in due course.  Insofar as it turns out to be important to
    39        the case, I will make a decision about it.
    40
    41   MS. STEEL:  Could you get pink volume XII, please?
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, I think you had that a moment ago.
    44        A.  Yes, I have it.
    45
    46   MS. STEEL:  Sorry, I have just realised, I do not know whether
    47        that was at cross-purposes, this thing about staff being
    48        fed freely.
    49        A.  I meant for free.
    50 
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No.  It is clear to me that what 
    52        Mr. Nicholson is saying is that his experience was that you 
    53        could take what you want as long as you did not waste any
    54        of it.
    55
    56   THE WITNESS:  That is right.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I have no doubt at all that if a manager saw
    59        one of his 18 crew members eating a Big Mac every hour, he
    60        might have something to say about it, but that is what your

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