Day 086 - 09 Feb 95 - Page 57
1 Q. You are not aware of that?
2 A. No.
3
4 Q. Do you think that is something you ought to be made aware
5 of in the position you are in?
6 A. No. The historical cases like this I do not think
7 I need to be too concerned with.
8
9 Q. So does that mean you do not get to hear about any
10 incidents where the company is in court in relation to, you
11 know, your area?
12 A. Now I would do but in 1991, no. The bank of knowledge
13 and history of all that is with Jill Barnes and the health
14 and safety department. I did not get a potted history of
15 any court cases and things like that had happened before,
16 although I am very current, know all about the procedures
17 and food safety at this moment in time.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think the gist of what has been put to you
20 is, do you get any kind of information about prosecutions
21 or complaints which have been made, any collation of it so
22 that you can look at it and say, "I wonder if we are bit
23 below par in that area", and so on?
24 A. Since I took this new position David Wignall has been
25 handling cases. It is his area of expertise along with
26 Keith Kenny. Some of the cases that came up David would
27 talk to me about. The rest of the time they would handle
28 them between themselves. Jill Barnes possibly was
29 involved, but it is mainly Keith and David because they
30 have the time and the experience of preparing for cases and
31 standing in court. David would give us an update. If he
32 was going to a court hearing he would tell me how it went.
33 My understanding of the situation was that in all the ones
34 he had attended, I think it was eight, we had won all of
35 them. That was the limit of my knowledge in that area,
36 that there were not too many cases that were being -- it is
37 not as if every week we were in court over something or
38 other. In David's summary before he left I think he
39 detailed, he was quite proud of the fact they had been in
40 court eight times over a long period of time for McDonald's
41 every case he had been in concerning food safety we had won
42 the case.
43
44 Q. How long had he been in that position?
45 A. David?
46
47 Q. Yes.
48 A. I guess he had been handling cases for us for three to
49 four years.
50
51 Q. Three to four years?
52 A. I guess so, yes.
53
54 Q. He told that you every case that you had been involved with
55 you had been acquitted?
56 A. Of the ones he had been involved in that we had won,
57 that was his parlance, that is how he put it. It is one of
58 his -----
59
60 Q. So were there other ones he was not involved in?
