Day 198 - 08 Dec 95 - Page 28
1 1st November, I think, until 1st -- sorry, no, yes.
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He was there from July 1984 until he moved to
4 Clacton on 1st June 1989.
5
6 MR. RAMPTON: That is right, my Lord, so he had ------
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He was under both Managers.
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10 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, he was and he had the whole of the period
11 when Mr. Davis was Manager from 1st November 1984 to
12 1st August 1987, therefore.
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14 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He was part of the management team?
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16 MR. RAMPTON: He was a Floor Manager under Mr. Davis. My Lord,
17 there is also an allegation made for the first time by
18 Mr. Gibney when he came to court or just before (and again
19 after my Colchester witnesses had been and gone) that there
20 was a practice of putting people back on probation and then
21 sacking them at the end of the summer holidays so as to
22 reduce the number of crew. Mr. Harney can deal with that
23 as well. That is in this sense a new allegation.
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25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So Harney about docking, you say?
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27 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, about docking and about putting people back
28 on probation and then getting rid of them by failing their
29 performance review. My Lord, Mr. Harney can also give
30 evidence, of course, of what it was like being a Store
31 Manager under Mr. Davis because he was Manager of Clacton
32 from 1st June 1989 until Mr. Davis left on 4th February
33 1991. So that is over a year and a half where he was
34 supervised by Mr. Davis.
35
36 Then, my Lord, since one has been looking at Mr. Davis'
37 performance reviews, your Lordship has noticed certain
38 similarities, at any rate in the early ones, of Mr. Davis
39 and Mr. Coton. That, of course, is when Mr. Davis was
40 Manager. Later on, of course, he gets performance reviews
41 as Supervisor. If one reads those carefully, one can see
42 that some, at least, of what, for example, Mr. Atherton was
43 telling Mr. Davis when Mr. Davis was Supervisor, Mr. Davis
44 was passing on down to Mr. Coton.
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I have not done a careful analysis of
47 what was happening at the same time above and below, but
48 I may have to do that at some time.
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50 MR. RAMPTON: Yes. I mean, my Lord, I would not actually invite
51 your Lordship to hear Mr. Atherton on that particular
52 topic. Mr. Taylor can also talk about it (but it would
53 have to be a Civil Evidence Act statement because he is in
54 Prague) because he supervised Mr. Davis in 1987 and 1989,
55 that is, Mr. Tim Taylor. I would not call those two or
56 call Mr. Atherton and get a statement from Mr. Taylor just
57 to deal with that because ------
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59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do I have Mr. Atherton?
60
