Day 202 - 11 Jan 96 - Page 10
1
2 Q. Does that really summarise -- your concern in the previous
3 sentence, where you say that the Manager is simply not up
4 to the job -- does paragraph 11 and 12 then basically
5 summarise how you came to that view?
6 A. I think we came to the view that Ray was not up to the
7 job or not performing well because of -- the things that we
8 found out there that Neil was uncovering would obviously
9 arouse suspicions and concerns that really were not there
10 before -- if you think you have a problem such as high crew
11 turnover and it is simply down to management incompetence
12 or not following through on the things that have been
13 determined as the way to solve problems.
14
15 I think, when we were looking at things here, it seemed
16 that things were running a bit deeper and that, you know,
17 if he was being dishonest, then perhaps he was just not up
18 to the job at all; whereas, before, we thought that we
19 could possibly -- he was managing a lot of restaurants, you
20 know, some stores had problems which they managed to
21 resolve and then other opportunities to concentrate upon.
22 If Colchester was sort of ticking along as a store that we
23 -- it was not doing great; it was a concern. We had
24 identified the things that needed improving within that
25 restaurant. Until this time, I was basically happy that if
26 we continued working we could resolve the crew turnover
27 problems and other things within that store. There were
28 some alarming things that seemed to start coming out when
29 Neil seemed to be looking at this restaurant when he took
30 over as a Supervisor.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Was there anything there which Mr. Davis
33 could not have discovered as well as Mr. Skehel, had he
34 chosen to do so -- or unless he knew about it already, of
35 course?
36 A. There is no reason why Mark could not have uncovered
37 anything that Neil subsequently uncovered, if it indeed was
38 happening at that time
39
40 MR. MORRIS: Neil Skehel uncovered so-called deficiencies,
41 because that was what he was looking for, was he not? He
42 put a lot of effort into visiting the Colchester store, did
43 he not?
44 A. He put a lot of effort into being a good Supervisor and
45 visiting all the stores, I recollect, when he was being
46 promoted, as with a normal relation (sic) and the desire to
47 do well when you are promoted into a new position. I think
48 it just transpired that when he was going round the stores
49 and looking at things that the four restaurants he had,
50 Colchester was the one where he had most concerns.
51
52 Q. What was the nature of the personal problems between
53 Neil Skehel and Ray Coton? What came to your attention?
54 A. Well, looking in retrospect, Ray was lying and cheating
55 in the restaurant; he was investigating into things.
56 Thereby, I would say that Ray's insecurity and concern
57 about being found out was probably the cause of any strain
58 in the relationship there.
59
60 Q. What evidence have you got that Ray Coton was lying and
