Day 085 - 08 Feb 95 - Page 61
1 record there was of this complaint of a customer being ill,
2 how long would that be kept?
3 A. I would say a couple of years, but perhaps a store
4 would not hold on to it within a restaurant. If it was
5 something as serious as that it would have gone to one of
6 their head office departments at whichever time the
7 complaint was. If we are talking about 1991 I cannot
8 recollect who that individual would have been, but whoever
9 had responsibility for that would have had a record.
10
11 Q. It would go to the regional office, sorry, or the head
12 office in London?
13 A. I believe regional. Regional complaints were dealt
14 with but complaint letters would go to a person in the
15 region. Because we were a smaller company at that time
16 there was less, responsibilities were further spread.
17 I think that if it was a complaint on sickness then someone
18 in London would have been contacted by the regional
19 complaint department or the person responsible for
20 complaints in the region.
21
22 Q. The memo on the following page, page 545, you would have
23 seen this one, would you?
24 A. Yes.
25
26 Q. Do you remember it?
27 A. No.
28
29 Q. You do not remember it?
30 A. I have not read it yet. Allow me to read it and I will
31 see if I have a recollection. I do not remember the memo in
32 detail, but I am familiar with what it is saying.
33
34 Q. This is the instruction following the Preston outbreak of
35 food poisoning to increase the cooking time?
36 A. Does it say that?
37
38 Q. Well, it was a question. I am presuming it is from the
39 date.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You might be right, but ----
42
43 MS. STEEL: I did say it was a question.
44 A. It does not say it relates to the Preston incident, so
45 I do not know if it is.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is very soon after the Preston outbreak.
48 If refers to tests which have been going on.
49 A. I think it is -----
50
51 Q. Do you know whether it was hurried forward or anything like
52 that or a decision was actually made because of the Preston
53 outbreak?
54 A. It would only be speculation. I was not involved in
55 head office and making decisions of this magnitude. I was
56 operating out in the field. We have been testing clamshell
57 grills since 1984. There are reasons for trying to
58 replicate the quality of clamshell grills in regular meat,
59 so that seems to be the reason there. I would say Preston
60 happened and we were looking to make sure that we could do
