Day 129 - 25 May 95 - Page 11
1 Q. Presumably, that was something that could have happened
2 elsewhere in the country, which is why you changed
3 the -----
4 A. We had the ability to do that. It also gives us other
5 advantages in that it will do an automatic check on the way
6 the fryer is working as well when it is switched on. Now,
7 we have that technology, we just feel we should be able to
8 use it everywhere and, obviously, went to some trouble,
9 time and expense to get that done.
10
11 Q. So the confusion that arose was because there are lots of
12 different beeps going off at different times?
13 A. We do not know. We do not know the reason why they got
14 mixed up.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That was your best judgment?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. What you thought the most likely reason was?
20 A. That is correct, sir.
21
22 MS. STEEL: Are there beeps on other machines, apart from the
23 Chicken McNuggets?
24 A. Yes, all the fryers -- if you want to call it a
25 bleeper, yes -- an alarm, if you like, to tell you when the
26 product is cooked.
27
28 Q. That would be for the patties and chips and fries?
29 A. Yes, it also has visual advice as well. When it is
30 ready, it flashes on the front of the fry station that it
31 is that particular basket that is ready to come out.
32
33 Q. That was the new type?
34 A. No, they are all like that. They all have some way of
35 telling you it is ready.
36
37 Q. Has that always been the case?
38 A. Yes.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Does that mean that someone must have got
41 confused about the bleeper and then taken the chicken
42 McNuggets out, even though a light which should have been
43 flashing had they been properly cooked, was not flashing?
44 A. It just means if they had looked at it and they had
45 listened to it -- for some reason the action they then took
46 was not the right one. We do not know why because the
47 difficulty is in talking to the crew member who was working
48 on the station, they could not recall why they should have
49 got it mixed up.
50
51 Q. I understand that but, as I understand what you are saying,
52 if they heard the bleeper correctly, identified the correct
53 bleeper, and looked and registered whether a light was
54 flashing or not, this should not have happened?
55 A. Exactly.
56
57 Q. But it did?
58 A. Yes.
59
60 Q. You have not found any other explanation, and your surmise
