Day 203 - 12 Jan 96 - Page 28
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause a moment, listen to the answer,
2 then by all means have your discussion with Ms. Steel, but
3 otherwise you may miss something which is important.
4
5 MR. MORRIS: All right.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What you were saying was you think on the
8 occasions when you arranged to see him, pinning things
9 down, deciding a conclusive course of action was extremely
10 difficult. Then I interrupted you. Were you going to say
11 anything more?
12 A. Yes, and I guess that it was not so much perhaps that
13 he was avoiding me, rather that it was difficult to get him
14 to sit down and face up to some of the issues and come up
15 with a concrete plan of what to do, and I think that if you
16 put that together with the fact that he was not there at
17 critical time in the restaurant, then I think it could be
18 that he was avoiding me.
19
20 I mean, it has since come to light that he applied for a
21 job with the TSB in January. You know, maybe he did not
22 want to be there, maybe he was avoiding me. But, you know,
23 if I am turning up at the critical shifts, I make it clear
24 to the Manager that I am going to be -- there is a
25 possibility I am going to turn up at the critical shift,
26 I make it clear to the Manager that I would like him to
27 work the critical shifts in his restaurant, he is going to
28 know more or less. He is going to know that I am going to
29 be looking for him to be there.
30
31 Q. When was your appointment as Area Supervisor generally
32 known in Colchester?
33 A. I would have thought it was the very day that it
34 happened, you know, or -- yes, yes.
35
36 Q. So there is no reason to suppose it was known when
37 Mr. Coton applied for the TSB job?
38 A. No, but, you know, I think -- I recall there was some
39 discussion about who was going to be the Manager of the
40 Tolgate, and I think Mark did mention to Ray that he could
41 possibly be the Manager of Tolgate but gave the job to me.
42
43 Q. Was that a bigger store?
44 A. Well, it is prestigious to open a new restaurant and it
45 is seen as, sort of, I think, a recognition that, you know,
46 you are going to do it well.
47
48 MR. MORRIS: Ray Coton did not like you, did he, did not get on
49 with you at all before you became Supervisor?
50 A. It would seem from his comments -- I do not know. I
51 mean, I do not know what Ray Coton liked and disliked.
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is that part of your case because
54 "personality clashes can arise" can be a euphemism for
55 just not having the same view of things. You can have a
56 personality clash with a boss who likes you to turn up at
57 work on time; on the other hand, you can have a personality
58 clash with a boss because you decide you do not like him
59 before you have given him half a chance. So, are you
60 really putting to him that Ray Coton did not like
