Day 179 - 30 Oct 95 - Page 09
1 remembers talking to you a few days ago.
2
3 (To the witness): You had something to say to Mr. Morris
4 about what happened after holiday periods?
5 A. Yes, my Lord.
6
7 Q. Tell me about that.
8 A. After the holiday period, the store -- especially the
9 summer holiday -- would go very quiet in comparison to the
10 time when the children were off, and people would be
11 failing their performance reviews, which they would not
12 have normally failed, in order to cut the number of staff
13 at the store. They may be considered acceptable when the
14 store was busy, but when it was quiet they would fail their
15 performance reviews and not be kept on.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Pause there. (Pause)
18
19 MR. MORRIS: What would be the result of that?
20 A. The lowering of the numbers of staff in the store.
21
22 Q. What would happen to the individual? It may be an obvious
23 question.
24 A. They would lose their job.
25
26 Q. Right. Moving on to Milton Keynes, you said that you were
27 badly treated and you left. Can you say what the problems
28 were, why you left Milton Keynes?
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just take it steadily, because I have to take
31 a note of it.
32 A. Yes, my Lord. Milton Keynes was a very busy store, and
33 I started working there on the run up to Christmas. I was
34 expected to work six days a week, shifts of 12 hours or
35 more; and the staff were also treated in the same sort of
36 way. It was difficult to tell someone -----
37
38 Q. Just pause. Yes?
39 A. I found it difficult to tell someone who had worked a
40 seven hour shift that they could not go home at their
41 scheduled time because the store was too busy, or they
42 could not have a break; and quite often people would work
43 their whole shift and longer without a break -- maybe a
44 drink around the back office or a burger, or something like
45 that.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: Have you got the statement in front of you -- these
48 notes in front of you? I think we are entitled to read it.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. I am sorry. Quite apart from anything
51 else, it is one thing if we have a statement made two years
52 ago which he signed himself -- I am really doing this in
53 your interests as much as anything, because if you just put
54 a prompt in front of a witness it may detract from the
55 weight of the evidence he then gives; whereas, if you
56 follow the form we are following at the moment, I can see
57 and hear the way Mr. Gibney gives his evidence.
58
59 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness): Regarding food practices at the
60 Colchester store, and hygiene matters, have you anything to
