Day 198 - 08 Dec 95 - Page 31
1 which is three and a half months after Mr. Davis and
2 Mr. Stanton had given evidence.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: I mean, in general, we are not afraid of how many
5 witnesses the Plaintiffs want to drag into the case at this
6 late stage, but I would like to point out, first of all,
7 Mr. Coton in his original statements did not bring up,
8 maybe just the clocking, the adjustments.
9
10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can I put it -----
11
12 MR. MORRIS: That is the only new allegation he brought up in
13 his statement. The only other -- all his statement was
14 was he was verifying what our previous witnesses had said,
15 including Adrian Brett who worked up to '92.
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The trouble is, if I could put what appears
18 to me, the clocking was something completely new, and it
19 seems to me only fair that the Plaintiffs should have an
20 opportunity to call their relevant witnesses in relation to
21 that. I mean, it was not even in the picture in July when
22 Mr. Davis and Mr. Stanton were called.
23
24 MR. MORRIS: No.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The other aspect which, it seems to me, is
27 either new or of great extension of the case is the
28 continuation of practices and the pressure you would say
29 which caused those practices for something like three and a
30 half years after Mr. Davis ceased to be Manager, because,
31 essentially, the witnesses whose statements you had served
32 originally were in relation to Mr. Davis' period as
33 Manager; Mr. Gibney ran on for about a couple of months
34 afterwards before he went off to Milton Keynes, but that is
35 basically it.
36
37 MS. STEEL: There is Mr. Brett as well, who went on for a quite
38 considerable time afterwards.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, but the real impact was when Mr. Davis
41 was Manager, and if I were to find in your favour factually
42 on these matters on the evidence as it is, quite frankly,
43 it would be completely a Pyrrhic victory if I had stopped
44 the other side from calling half the witnesses they wanted
45 to call on the topic.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: We are not objecting -----
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not trying to bully you into it; I am
50 just trying to explain to you the way I am feeling about it
51 at the moment. Mr. Rampton has greatly restricted the
52 scope of the evidence which he might call.
53
54 MS. STEEL: There is one matter that I did want to object to the
55 Plaintiffs calling evidence on, which was about, I think it
56 was Steve Harney talking about what went on at Clacton,
57 because if you remember Mr. Gibney was not allowed to give
58 evidence about what happened at other stores. So, I think
59 it is only fair that that should apply to the Plaintiffs'
60 witnesses as well, otherwise, you know, we .....
