Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 61
1 all the time.
2
3 Q. Pause there.
4
5 MR. MORRIS: You saw that yourself at the two stores you
6 visited?
7 A. Yes.
8
9 Q. You have said in your statement, "I saw the back of house
10 areas at off peak times. They seemed in both
11 instances"---
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have read that.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: -- "near the limit of their safe working capacity".
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Mr. Morris, I do not want you to read another
18 word from the statement.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: No, I am just asking.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We have read it. If you want to elicit
23 something additional, as you have just done, please do.
24 But at ten past four do not just reread bits of the
25 statement. I have now read that statement four or five
26 times.
27
28 MR. MORRIS: Right. What do you mean -- sorry, I did not
29 understand whether you meant they were at the limit of
30 their safe working capacity at the time you saw them, or if
31 they had got busier and had even more staff working there,
32 or were they at the limit of their safe working capacity at
33 the time you viewed them?
34 A. In my opinion?
35
36 Q. In your opinion.
37 A. In my opinion, these systems work not safely but they
38 can work off peak because there are fewer staff in the same
39 confined area. In my opinion, these systems break down
40 during peak and busy periods when you have small staff in
41 what are not, they are not large kitchens. So hustle, in
42 my view, is never safe, but it is at its riskiest,
43 obviously, when the stores are busy. That is when safety
44 is most compromised.
45
46 Q. Did that apply as much to the front of the house as to the
47 back of the house?
48 A. No, no, the unsafe areas are back of house; no doubt in
49 my mind at all about that.
50
51 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, can I be clear? The statement talks
52 about skip running in the front of the house. Where are we
53 now? I am not clear at all.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Ask about that tomorrow, Mr. Rampton. Take
56 it up then if you want.
57
58 THE WITNESS: I was asked about skip running ....
59
60 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Just pause a moment. Yes?
