Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 63


     
     1        A.  It never happened.
     2
     3   Q.   What about if there was only one or two people that said,
     4        "Oh well, OK, we are prepared to stay"?
     5        A.  It never happened.  It is a store which was very proud
     6        of its record as a business and, if anything, I think we
     7        probably had too many people; we never had a situation
     8        where nobody wanted to do it or only one or two did.
     9
    10   Q.   That shift is on the premium rate, is that right?
    11        A.  That is right.
    12
    13   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  How close were Colchester and Clacton to
    14        other stores?  Where was the next store going south or
    15        north or east or west rather?
    16        A.  Within the Midlands region, I think the next nearest
    17        one would have been Norwich.
    18
    19   Q.   Was there one in Chelmsford?
    20        A.  I am not too sure; there may well have been.  Again, it
    21        is outside my area.
    22
    23   Q.   Once you got into South Essex, that would be London and the
    24        South East?
    25        A.  That was handled outside of a London office, that is
    26        right.  So the nearest store within the Midlands region, if
    27        I recall, was probably Norwich; then up to Great Yarmouth
    28        and Lowestoft really.  Then up towards North East Anglia.
    29
    30   Q.   You were really a little enclave all of your own,
    31        geographically, were you not?
    32        A.  It was a remote region, so to speak; certainly.
    33
    34   MS. STEEL:   In your second statement, which should be behind
    35        that; I do not know whether there is a separate divider or
    36        not; on page 5 of that statement; I have only got page
    37        numbers at the top, not the bundle page numbers.  You have
    38        a section about turnover?
    39        A.  Right.
    40
    41   Q.   You mention about students from Leicester University and
    42        Leicester Polytechnic.  Then you go on to say that you had
    43        a number of part-time women with children who you treated
    44        as continuously employed?
    45        A.  Right.
    46
    47   Q.   Even if, for example, they took a week or 10 days' leave
    48        for family reasons.
    49        A.  Right.
    50 
    51   Q.   In such cases they were not, therefore, classified as 
    52        leavers.  You mentioned about -- would that be the same 
    53        situation for the students that you were talking about that
    54        went up, were working in the Leicester store and then took
    55        their files with them up to Glasgow?
    56        A.  Right.  No, I mean, the -- because there was going to
    57        be a significant period between them leaving and rejoining
    58        us, then there was -- we just simply reactive them on to
    59        the payroll and started them back again.  But with someone
    60        such as the part-time women that we employed with, perhaps,

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