Day 202 - 11 Jan 96 - Page 42


     
     1        A.  I do not think it was irresponsible at all, no.  There
     2        was no real issue.  It is just one comment down here that
     3        I put into a review.  There are other aspects of Neil's
     4        character that are not mentioned, about his honesty, his
     5        dependability, his trustworthiness, hardworking, attention
     6        to detail on issues.  I had worked with both of these
     7        people for a long time, so I had a pretty good
     8        understanding of their characters, or I thought I had a
     9        good understanding of their characters.
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  How long had you known Ray Coton by the end
    12        of 1990?
    13        A.  If you look up my file, you will see when I went to
    14        Anglia, which I think was August 1987.  I believe he was a
    15        restaurant Manager when I went over there.
    16
    17   Q.   He started as restaurant Manager at the same time, I think,
    18        as you came in as senior Supervisor.
    19        A.  Right.
    20
    21   Q.   Had you known him before then?
    22        A.  I had not known him before I came over at all.  I was
    23        unfamiliar with just about everybody in that region; I had
    24        not worked in that region before.
    25
    26   Q.   You said a little earlier that you got on fine, and you
    27        talked to him?
    28        A.  Yes.  I thought he was an amiable chap.
    29
    30   Q.   Did he say anything to you about feeling picked on by
    31        Neil Skehel or just not getting on with him in the same way
    32        as he got on with Mark Davis?
    33        A.  Not to my recollection.  The conversations were
    34        directed to specific issues that we have identified with
    35        the store, that he was having problems achieving; and that
    36        was not disputed between the two parties, between myself
    37        and himself.  The figures were there.  He was not managing
    38        to reduce crew turnover.  When I visited the restaurant,
    39        the problems were not getting any better.  I suggested ways
    40        that I could work out, and he was just not managing to get
    41        resolutions or improve those particular issues.  You know,
    42        it is Neil that was pointing these out, so that was Neil's
    43        involvement with the process.  But, equally, that was the
    44        sort of text of the meeting that we had before he left,
    45        that these were the issues.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  If the management in a store is not running a place
    48        properly, in your eyes, is the Manager expected to take
    49        responsibility for that?
    50        A.  Yes. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Is that the same throughout the region and higher, that 
    53        people take responsibility for what happens below them?
    54        A.  Yes.
    55
    56   Q.   Thank you.
    57
    58   MS. STEEL:  As a senior Supervisor, did you ever check that all
    59        the paperwork for the store was being kept and not
    60        destroyed?

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