Day 118 - 01 May 95 - Page 70
1 Q. Your department, is that right?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. Dated 6th March 1989?
5 A. Yes.
6
7 Q. To the Child Employment Officer of the Inner London
8 Education Authority.
9 A. Yes.
10
11 Q. This is while you were Head of Personnel?
12 A. Yes.
13
14 Q. "Until recently McDonald's Restaurants Limited operated a
15 policy where managers were only allowed to hire people of
16 school leaving age or above. However, because like many
17 other employees we are experiencing recruitment
18 difficulties, particularly in London and the South, some
19 store managers have been authorised to hire people who are
20 under school leaving age."
21 A. Yes.
22
23 Q. So at that time you also had a problem with ----
24 A. In certain areas.
25
26 Q. --- recruitment difficulties?
27 A. In certain areas of the London and the South.
28
29 Q. Particularly in London and the South?
30 A. Well, Carmel says "particular London and South".
31 I think there were other areas of the country where we had
32 equal difficulty. Of course, she was addressing herself to
33 the Inner London Education Authority which would only
34 affect London and the South.
35
36 Q. Actually this letter is three months before that press
37 report in the Financial Times we were looking at just
38 previously.
39 A. I will take your word for it. I do not know.
40
41 Q. It is dated June 14th 1989, so it was something of a
42 continuing problem; it was not just a blip of a couple of
43 weeks or something like that?
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not suppose it would be noticed if it
46 was an acute problem for just a short period.
47 A. We always had some difficult areas in London and the
48 South that have been difficult to -----
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Why do you not put what point you are making
51 about the difficulty in recruiting?
52
53 MS. STEEL: The point I am making is that Mr. Nicholson said
54 they have never had a problem recruiting, difficulty in
55 recruiting staff?
56 A. That was a general statement for the company as a
57 whole, but there have always been areas within the company
58 that have been difficult. London in particular has one or
59 two places where it is extremely difficult to recruit.
60
