Day 154 - 13 Jul 95 - Page 24
1 adjournment, if, in fact, my ruling is in a form which
2 I can just hand down, whether all parties are content that
3 I hand it down, to avoid the need to read it, which might
4 take a little time.
5
6 MR. RAMPTON: We certainly would consent to that.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You think about it as well. What I hope to
9 do is give each side three copies. There will be no need
10 for a transcript, because I will stick to the wording of
11 the ruling.
12
13 (Luncheon Adjournment)
14
15 MR. MORRIS: You said about a third of the staff at Colchester
16 would have been on the starting rate at any one time, about
17 that.
18
19 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, that is not actually what he said.
20
21 MR. MORRIS: Can you give the transcript reference then, please,
22 Mr. Rampton?
23
24 MR. RAMPTON: What he actually said was, "that would be the
25 maximum".
26
27 MR. MORRIS: I would like to see the transcript reference for
28 that then, if you are telling the witness what he said.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What do you think it was?
31
32 THE WITNESS: The maximum, I would have said, up to a third, as
33 I remember rightly.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Was it in the examination-in-chief?
36
37 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, I think it was, yes, I think I asked him.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: I think it was. Probably around page 44, 45, but
40 I cannot immediately see it.
41
42 MR. JUSTICE BELL: He said: "It depended what time of year. If
43 one had just hired a lot of staff at the beginning of the
44 summer months, a higher proportion would be on the basic
45 rate. February to April, there would be less, no more than
46 one third maximum, but they tried to stagger hiring".
47
48 MR. MORRIS: Right, okay.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is obviously not verbatim but I hope the
51 essence -----
52
53 MR. MORRIS: My note said a third.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL (To the witness): What do you think the
56 proportion was?
57 A. I mean, a third, absolute maximum. I cannot imagine it
58 ever getting above a third. Most of the time I would
59 obviously think it would be lower than that depending on
60 how many people we had hired at a particular period in the
