Day 111 - 30 Mar 95 - Page 64
1 anything and they said, no. Then I said, I would like to
2 start doing TVC swabs.
3
4 He offered first that I should wait for a few weeks before
5 I started doing it without offering any reason why I should
6 wait. Then later, when I was touring round the plant with
7 Mr. Stewart Jarrett, I was still insisting that I was going
8 to start the swabbing programme and I had advised the
9 Senior Meat Inspector, David White, to find out to get
10 tenders from various laboratories, private laboratories in
11 the Bristol area to give us quotes on what they would
12 charge for these weekly results.
13
14 I had given him some details of what sort of tests I wanted
15 to be done and how often. He was obviously in the process
16 of finding that out and then while I was touring the plant
17 with Stewart Jarrett, I suggested that I could do the same
18 money because I know that it was expensive and I understood
19 that Jarretts would pay for these tests as part of the
20 leeway that the Borough Council puts on them. I then
21 suggested that I could do this myself as I was used to
22 doing it and asked for any laboratory premises and I was
23 told that they only have this fat analysis room where they
24 have the fat analysis equipment. He said that obviously
25 would not be adequate and I said I would only need an
26 incubator.
27
28 Q. Have you finished?
29 A. Yes.
30
31 Q. It was a long answer. That is not your fault because
32 I asked you for a full explanation. Was this conversation
33 simply in the context of the question: "Were there any
34 such facilities on the premises?"
35 A. I cannot remember whether I asked whether was there a
36 laboratory or whether there were facilities where I could
37 do this because I could not possibly do it in my office.
38 I did not consider my office.
39
40 Q. Were you offering to do it on the premises?
41 A. Yes.
42
43 Q. You see, it does not make any sense, does it, they are
44 saying: "Oh well, we do not have any such tests done"
45 because it just would not have been true, would it?
46 A. Yes, I -----
47
48 Q. It makes no sense, does it?
49 A. No, it does not, but I had no reason to doubt their
50 answer at the time.
51
52 Q. Was it perhaps, do you think, and I do not know but I will
53 find out about this, what you were suggesting, that they
54 should do it weekly rather than monthly?
55 A. It could be, I do not know.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you want to put your earlier suggestion
58 again, Mr. Rampton, because I thought what you were
59 suggesting was it is possible that the question was whether
60 there were lab facilities for doing this testing or whether
