Day 204 - 15 Jan 96 - Page 38


     
     1        if they want to, that Supervisors do not make thorough
     2        checks to find out what is going on at store level?
     3        A.  I think Supervisors do make through checks.  I think in
     4        this instance, obviously, from what has been said there
     5        I probably should have spotted this going on.  However,
     6        I did not, and it is surprising to me that I did not.  If
     7        I had have -- if somebody had come to me with any problems
     8        of that nature, then I would have investigated it
     9        thoroughly and made sure it did not happen again and
    10        possibly disciplined the Managers concerned.
    11
    12   Q.   If you can miss something like this, you could be missing
    13        under-18s working past their legal hours, could you not?
    14        A.  Yes, possibly, yes; unlikely, but possible.
    15
    16   Q.   If you did not get to hear of it, then further up the chain
    17        is not going to get to hear of it either, are they?
    18        A.  Generally, with things of this nature, you would get to
    19        hear of it.  In this particular instance, we did not, no.
    20
    21   Q.   Can I just ask, on page 5 of your statement in paragraph C,
    22        you said: "Every year there was a Human Resources audit.
    23        We had to keep clock cards going back a few months,
    24        together with the schedules."  Why do you say a few
    25        months?  It was much longer than that, was it not?
    26        A.  It was a few months that we had to keep them with
    27        regard to the Human Resources audit.  It went back three
    28        months.  I was not really stating there that the exact time
    29        we were supposed to keep them.  I think we generally kept
    30        them two years, something like that, although I cannot
    31        recall the exact time period it ran.
    32
    33   Q.   In your previous statement you said they were to be kept
    34        for three years?
    35        A.  That is probably about right then.
    36
    37   Q.   Do you remember that now?
    38        A.  Well, it may have been three years, yes.
    39
    40   Q.   You are aware, are you not, that there has been controversy
    41        about the fact that these clock cards have not been
    42        produced?
    43
    44   MR. RAMPTON:  There has been no controversy at all, my Lord.
    45        The Defendants have asked for documents which do not
    46        exist.  That is the only controversy there has been.  If
    47        Ms. Steel refuses to believe it, that is her problem.  It
    48        is not a controversy.
    49
    50   MS. STEEL:   (To the witness):  Was that the reason that you 
    51        wrote "a few months", so that we would think that they 
    52        would not be in existence still? 
    53        A.  When I wrote the statement, I had already been in court
    54        previously where it has become plainly evident that they
    55        are not in existence.  So why should I bother to do that?
    56
    57   Q.   I do not know.  You tell me.
    58
    59   MR. MORRIS:  Have you heard of the Crew Opinion Survey?
    60        A.  Yes.

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