Day 195 - 04 Dec 95 - Page 08
1 often as three or four times a week."
2
3 Can you just clarify what you mean there?
4 A. Well, at certain times of the year we had visits from
5 the Head Office and also the Area Supervisor would
6 sometimes insist on having a very clean and tidy store, so
7 at certain times of the year we would have to do a lot more
8 late night shifts or late night closes than other times of
9 the year.
10
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But I have heard that the Area Supervisor
12 visited the store quite frequently.
13 A. As far as I can recollect, the Area Supervisor, when he
14 was appointed to the job earlier on, which I believe was
15 early -- in early 1986, he was -----
16
17 Q. Which Area Supervisor are you talking about?
18 A. I am talking about Frank Stanton.
19
20 Q. Yes.
21 A. I seem to remember that he was paying visit to
22 Colchester McDonald's less frequently at a later stage, and
23 I feel that he was obviously new in the job and he wanted
24 to impose his authority. So he was insisting whenever we
25 were on the late shift and he was going to visit us, I do
26 remember we were having late night closes.
27
28 Q. But are you saying that things were spruced up just because
29 he was going to come?
30 A. I believed so at the time, yes.
31
32 MS. STEEL: Can you just say, is a late night close the same as
33 an all night close or are they different?
34 A. All night closes are different to late night closes.
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So what you are saying is that the normal
37 late night closes went on longer than they would normally
38 do; they would go on to 3.00 or 4.00 in order to make
39 things spick and span?
40 A. That is right, that is correct.
41
42 MS. STEEL: The all night closes that you say are different;
43 what time did they finish?
44 A. They frequently went on until 6.00 or 7 o'clock in the
45 morning. Could I just expand on that sentence about Area
46 Supervisor paying us a visit? I believe that before Frank
47 Stanton took over, the job was slightly different in so far
48 as the previous Area Supervisor, I believe, had more stores
49 under his control. So he was not paying as frequently a
50 visit as Frank Stanton did and certainly for the first few
51 months when the Area Supervisor was not Frank Stanton, he
52 was paying us visits, I do not remember how frequently, but
53 it was definitely less frequently than Frank Stanton, and
54 certainly true for him, for his visits, we had to do late
55 closes. The tradition continued for a few months after
56 Frank Stanton became Area Supervisor. It later on -- he
57 later on started paying us more frequent visits and we were
58 not finishing as late then.
59
60 MS. STEEL: So when he first started visiting the store he did
