Day 195 - 04 Dec 95 - Page 58
1 evidence of the witness to suggest, were linked to the all
2 night closes, apparently happened, according to this, every
3 two weeks.
4
5 MS. STEEL: They did not.
6
7 MR. MORRIS: "Often".
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is where -- please -- that is where you
10 have left me behind.
11
12 MR. RAMPTON: I will start again, if I may. (To the witness):
13 What was the cause, Mr. Alimi, of the all night closes?
14 A. I am speaking from memory now, but it could be because
15 somebody is coming down from the Head Office; it could be
16 because the store might need some maintenance in which case
17 I was doing the late night -- all night close, and it might
18 be because generally it needed -- the store needed it to be
19 cleaned thoroughly. So it could have different reasons.
20
21 Q. You still say that somebody from Head Office came
22 sometimes, at least, often, came once every two weeks?
23 A. Well, I have said that here. I cannot remember it
24 right now, but, yes, at certain times of the year it could,
25 they could come down as often as that, maybe for a month or
26 two.
27
28 Q. A month or two. Would that not mean in a month or two
29 there would be four such visits, would there not, if there
30 were two months?
31 A. Might have been, yes.
32
33 Q. Did it always mean there had to be an all night close?
34 A. Not necessarily, no.
35
36 Q. Can you turn over, please, to page 11 ----
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Rampton, I am sorry to interrupt you, but
39 I am still concerned there has been a misunderstanding.
40 Are you actually meaning to say, because this is the basis
41 upon which Mr. Rampton is working, that the all night
42 closes as opposed to the 3 to 4 a.m. closes, at some times
43 of the year could occur as often as every two or three
44 weeks, once every two or three weeks?
45 A. No, I would not say that. I would say late night
46 closes happened often, but again it is speaking from
47 memory, I do not think that all night closes happened as
48 regularly as that.
49
50 MR. RAMPTON: All night closes happened very rarely, did they
51 not?
52 A. All night closes, it depends what you mean by "rarely"
53 or "regularly", because it could happen at times, maybe for
54 one or two months of the year, it could happen every other
55 week. It could happen fortnightly, but I hope I have not
56 given the impression that these late night closes were the
57 average closing time for the whole year. At certain times
58 they went on regularly until the business was more slack,
59 and then we went back to our normal maybe 1 o'clock close
60 or 1.30.
