Day 174 - 17 Oct 95 - Page 58


     
     1        to talk to him then, whoever it is -- "but I would like
     2        half an hour before I call him", I will not be unreceptive
     3        to that.  But what I do not want you doing, and what you
     4        must not do, is so organise your witness timetable that as
     5        a matter of course you get half a day here and a day there
     6        to use as preparation days.
     7
     8        We will adjourn now.  I will not go into any of the reading
     9        witnesses because if, in fact, Mr. North is here I think it
    10        is in everyone's interest if you get on talking with him,
    11        but we will have Mr. Whittle tomorrow.  If he finishes a
    12        little early we will go on to some reading.  So be ready to
    13        respond to what Mr. Rampton was saying -- is it Mr. McGee
    14        or Mr. Magill?
    15
    16   MR. RAMPTON:  McGee, my Lord.
    17
    18   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Mr. McGee.
    19
    20   MR. RAMPTON:  Magill was the first one.
    21
    22   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  When we come back to get on with
    23        Mr. Turnbull on the 19th, I would like you to tell me who
    24        you propose to call on two days of Wednesday, Thursday and
    25        Friday of the half term week and what the state of play is
    26        with organising people then.  When Mr. Turnbull is here, he
    27        may be able to give you -- you may find, if you have some
    28        additional query, that he will say, "You had better ask
    29        Mr. Pearson about that rather than me".  So take the
    30        opportunity while Mr. Turnbull is here to find out; you can
    31        try any queries you have in mind for Mr. Pearson or
    32        Mr. Turnbull, I would have thought.
    33
    34   MR. MORRIS:  Our approach is, fundamentally, that we have called
    35        witnesses to help the court on what the truth of the
    36        situation is regarding McDonald's employment conditions and
    37        that, fundamentally, should be the thing that guides what
    38        happens, and that if people have evidence to give they
    39        should be encouraged to give that by the court, and we are
    40        doing our best in all the circumstances to ensure that as
    41        much advance warning is given to the Plaintiffs, but that
    42        if anybody -- if you, yourself, feel there are questions
    43        you want to ask our witnesses we would only welcome that
    44        because they have a lot of experience.
    45
    46   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If I can helpfully ask anything I will, but
    47        what I want you to be doing at the moment is packing your
    48        witnesses in to this so I know where we are.
    49
    50   MR. MORRIS:  You see, I just want to say that we cannot afford 
    51        to schedule someone on a day when they then do not get 
    52        heard because we cannot afford to bring people in that we 
    53        cannot pay for loss of wages or pay double fares, or
    54        whatever.  So we have to try and make sure that the
    55        scheduling is reasonable and that if we have gaps, you
    56        know, because someone finishes early we feel, and I know it
    57        is your decision, but we feel that is better than
    58        scheduling someone who does not get heard.
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you can still pack them in reasonably

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