Day 084 - 07 Feb 95 - Page 23
1 Q. A somewhat meteoric rise, Mr. Atherton. How old are you?
2 A. I am 34.
3
4 Q. How long did you do that job in East Anglia?
5 A. For the best part of four years, I believe.
6
7 Q. Just briefly, we know something of the functions of a
8 restaurant manager, so I am not going to ask you about
9 that. We know less, I think, of the functions of an
10 Operations Manager for an area with may be 20 restaurants
11 in. Just briefly, what sort of duties did you have to
12 perform in that role?
13 A. Well, the major responsibility was for the
14 profitability of the region. That included
15 responsibilities for hiring people, general maintenance and
16 standards within the restaurants.
17
18 Q. Does that involve actually visiting restaurants then?
19 A. Yes, the majority of the time was spent in restaurants
20 rather than at Head Office -- probably only two days a
21 month at Head Office, if that.
22
23 Q. Where was the Head Office concern for East Anglia?
24 A. Sutton Coalfield.
25
26 Q. I think, if my arithmetic is right, this brings us up to
27 about 1992, does it not?
28 A. That is correct.
29
30 Q. What happened then?
31 A. I was asked to move to East Finchley and take up a
32 two-year secondment as Operations Development Manager.
33
34 Q. Is that a manager in the Operations Department or is it the
35 Manager of the Operations Department?
36 A. At that time I was on my own, just one person in the
37 department.
38
39 Q. In what month of this year were you promoted to your
40 present post as Head of Training?
41 A. July.
42
43 Q. I think you told us that already. Within your department
44 do you actually have a department or are you just a figure
45 who, as it were, co-ordinates the activities of other
46 departments?
47 A. I do not have a department as such. I have four
48 department heads who report to me.
49
50 Q. Tell us who the four department heads are or tell us, first
51 of all, what the four departments are and then who those
52 people are?
53 A. It is a Corporate Training Department and Ken Tompkins
54 heads up that department; there is the Health and Safety
55 Department headed by Jill Barnes; the Customer Services
56 Department Headed by Marianne Page and my old department,
57 the Operations Development department, now headed by Neil
58 Skehel.
59
60 Q. Your place in the witness box was to have been taken at one
