Day 298 - 11 Nov 96 - Page 29


     
     1   MS. STEEL:   We are looking at the data for 1993 and 1994, which
     2        was advanced on behalf of the Plaintiffs, so I don't think
     3        they can complain that it is now being used.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Right.
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:   The point I want to make in relation to these is
     8        that these are really the minimum numbers of people who are
     9        eating several times per week or more often at McDonald's,
    10        because Mr. Fairgrieve described how these surveys had been
    11        carried out.  It was basically over the phone, discussions
    12        with or questions of the head of the household unless the
    13        head of the household was not available, in which case
    14        somebody else would be spoken to.
    15
    16        And obviously there are two factors there which are going
    17        to influence the results.  One is that you are not going to
    18        get the people who cannot afford telephones, for example,
    19        or who are living in bed and breakfast and so on, who are,
    20        because of their circumstances and lack of cooking
    21        facilities and so on, things like that, actually quite
    22        likely to be eating out on a regular basis at places such
    23        as McDonald's.  Obviously, that has more effect in kind of
    24        inner city areas and so on, which I think is where the
    25        survey from the London Food Commission is very useful in
    26        showing that there are areas in the country where, for
    27        significant numbers of people, McDonald's food is making up
    28        a very significant part of their diet.  Yes, in that survey
    29        it was 31 percent of people who were questioned said they
    30        ate fast food every day.
    31
    32        The other thing is by questioning predominantly the heads
    33        of households ----
    34
    35   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is grazing in Peckham again, is it?
    36
    37   MS. STEEL:   The 31 percent, yes.  The other thing is that by
    38        questioning predominantly the heads of households and by
    39        specifically, I think Mr. Fairgrieve said, excluding people
    40        under 16, they are actually cutting out from the survey the
    41        people who are or do make up the major proportion of their
    42        customers, the younger age groups.
    43
    44        I mean, they specifically say age 16 to 24 make up the
    45        particularly heavy users and they are the ones that are
    46        going to be less likely to be heads of households and
    47        answering phone surveys.  And then obviously there are
    48        teenagers who, I don't know, if you go to any McDonald's
    49        anywhere, it is always full of teenagers and seems to be a
    50        place where they go very frequently.
    51
    52        So I just think that those things should be taken into
    53        consideration, that the figures given by Mr. Fairgrieve are
    54        the minimum numbers of people who are eating there several
    55        times a week or more frequently.
    56
    57        There are also the figures in tab 2, McDonald's
    58        performance, which I seem to remember -- oh, yes, this is
    59        McDonald's performance of informal eating out places.  But
    60        there the figures for heavy users of between 67 and 76 --

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