Day 196 - 06 Dec 95 - Page 29
1
2 Q. Before we come on to that, Mark Davies said something about
3 a skinhead incident.
4 A. Yes.
5
6 Q. Is that relevant or what?
7 A. There was a lot of trouble where there was a group of
8 skinheads in the town that had taken a dislike to some of
9 the lads that were actually in this group of people, and on
10 two or three occasions, I believe, they came in and started
11 trouble in the restaurant. At one time there was a full
12 fledge fight. They lept over the counters and it was quite
13 a violent affair, but it had nothing to do with the
14 so-called McDonald's Freedom Fighters. It was an issue
15 that was outside the store but was actually brought in
16 because people worked within the restaurant and they came
17 in to get them, so I do not think the two were connected at
18 all.
19
20 Q. Anyway, you have here the group banding together and the
21 Company -- what happened?
22 A. Eventually, there was a meeting. Various people were
23 present. I can remember myself being there, someone called
24 Trudie Jones, Mark Davis, Frank Stanton, and it was
25 discussed that these people had to either tow the line or
26 go. If my memory serves me correctly, various ways were
27 sort of come up that would be given a hard time, or sacked
28 for some misdemeanor, or something like that. Within a
29 short period of time the majority of them had actually
30 either left or been sacked.
31
32 As part of my development, although I was not allowed to
33 sack people, I actually had to tell someone that they were
34 going for something they did, and I cannot remember who the
35 person was or what the reason was, but I know, as a Second
36 Assistant, I was actually told: "As part of your
37 management development, you have to tell this person that
38 their employment is terminated".
39
40 I believe all of them either left or were sacked with the
41 exception of one person who carried on working and
42 subsequently left of his own accord later on.
43
44 Q. Did any of the other Managers get individuals to deal with
45 or whatever?
46 A. I believe, yes, I mean, we all actually said -- we all
47 agreed it was a sort of case of like, "There is, like, A, B
48 and C, we need to find a way of going, can you try to get
49 rid of A? You look after B" and that type of thing, so it
50 was people were, sort of, targeted to try to get people
51 out.
52
53 Q. You had one person that you were earmarked for?
54 A. I was not actually earmarked to get them to go, but
55 I was actually, as part of the development, when the
56 person, whatever the excuse was, I was the one who had to
57 sit the person down and say, for example, it was continual
58 lateness, and say: "Well, you are continually late; it is
59 not acceptable, therefore, you have lost your job", that
60 type of thing.
