Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 09


     
     1   Q.   So why did you not attend the inquest?
     2        A.  People from McDonald's attended the Inquest, but I did
     3        not go.  I was not required to give evidence, and it was
     4        felt that in staying away I could probably maintain some of
     5        my objectivity.  Having said that, I seem to remember the
     6        Inquest did not take place until quite a while after the
     7        accident.  But I certainly was not asked to give evidence.
     8        Those that did went along and so did the personnel as well,
     9        who had been along to see Mark's family.
    10
    11   Q.   Chris Purslow was there, was he?
    12        A.  No, he did not go along.
    13
    14   Q.   So how would he know what happened at the Inquest?
    15        A.  I am just saying he will give evidence as to -----
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Ask him that.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:  I just got the impression -----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can I say something to try to help you?
    22
    23   MR. RAMPTON:  What Mr. Purslow said is not that he was at the
    24        Inquest but the missing handle is of no materiality.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I urge you to keep your eye on the ball over
    27        this.
    28
    29   MR. MORRIS:  I am only trying to -----
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Try not to go off on some of the more
    32        peripheral things when we have actually, in relation to
    33        this matter, got some hard information, and you are not
    34        short of evidence as to what happened or what criticism
    35        might have been made.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  When you did your investigation, thorough or not,
    38        did you find out that -- I think you accept in your report;
    39        we will come to that in a minute -- the cable (this is
    40        section 5 in Mr. Chapman's statement)  was too short and
    41        the machine was making it taut; I think you accepted that
    42        when the Judge put it to you?
    43        A.  I take offence that you are casting aspersions over my
    44        report.  Yes, we did find out the cable would have been
    45        taut where the machine was positioned.
    46
    47   Q.   That people were constantly having to step over it during
    48        the close.
    49        A.  That did not come out because we were only really
    50        looking at the circumstances that led to the accident 
    51        itself. 
    52 
    53   Q.   But if you were concerned about safety in general, it
    54        would, presumably, concern you that people were having to
    55        step over wires, would it not?
    56        A.  I agree it does concern me if people were having to
    57        step over it, but that was not something that I put in my
    58        report, and it did not come out at the time.
    59
    60   Q.   But in the position it was in, were people likely to have

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