Day 130 - 26 May 95 - Page 05
1
2 Q. Yes, but in those circumstances, where equipment may be
3 exposed to mechanical damage and the effect of wet
4 conditions can lead to fires. There have been fires, have
5 there not, in the McDonald's stores, in the fat filtering
6 unit because of those conditions?
7 A. I do not know of any fires in the filtering machine.
8
9 Q. You do not?
10 A. At all.
11
12 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The point there is he speaks of leakage of
13 electric current, but if you get a short circuit and a
14 flash, it might lead to a fire; it might ignite something?
15 A. Certainly, it is one hazard of electrical equipment,
16 that you can get fire.
17
18 MR. MORRIS: If you just want to go to a document while we are
19 on that subject. I am trying to take the point that I do
20 not need to put every detail of this accident.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think you do. The reason I have
23 come in is not to stop you putting some valid point, but
24 what I thought you might be tempted to do is leave the
25 Manchester City Council papers which, in any event, we have
26 looked at before. If you, for instance, think that I did
27 not in one sentence a moment ago cover all the points you
28 want to make, pick out of the draft report the areas where
29 you think McDonald's could be subject to criticism.
30
31 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Because it occurred to me that that document
34 may go to McDonald's credit, I do not know, but appeared a
35 fairly candid assessment of areas where, to put it in a
36 fairly neutral phrase, they could have done better.
37
38 MR. RAMPTON: I remind your Lordship Mr. Morris was not here,
39 but I am sure he read the transcript, that in answer to
40 questions by me Mrs. Barnes accepted the findings of Mr.
41 Shirkie.
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I thought they were factual findings. To
44 save going through it, you are not to be inhibited from
45 putting any particular criticism. All I am suggesting is a
46 way in which you might do it quite shortly without losing
47 anything from your own case. Carry on in your own way.
48
49 MR. MORRIS: Presumably, you accept the findings of your own
50 report?
51 A. In putting together that report, I was as critical as
52 I could possibly be. I just felt at the time we owed it to
53 Mark Hopkins to look in absolute detail at what happened,
54 and pick out every little thing we felt we possibly could
55 have done better. As you will know all of the things I
56 picked out we addressed.
57
58 Q. So you accept the findings of your own report?
59 A. Yes, I wrote it.
60
