Day 175 - 18 Oct 95 - Page 29


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL: (To the witness)  When you say they do not use
     3        the cards, there was a system, was there, whereby a clocked
     4        time was put on a card and products were put there -- is
     5        that what you mean -- in their wrappings, ready to be
     6        served?
     7        A.  Yes.  What happened was, what was supposed to happen
     8        was that when food was cooked it was then wrapped within a
     9        certain amount of time and then put in a holding bay, a
    10        storage bin; and what was then supposed to happen was, a
    11        time card was supposed to be slotted on afterwards, and the
    12        holding time for nearly everything was ten minutes, except
    13        certain other products had longer holding times; and when
    14        the minute hand came round to the number that had been
    15        slotted on, that food was then supposed to be thrown away.
    16        Now, the system would be adhered to in busy times, because
    17        the stuff got sold in time, so the holding time was
    18        irrelevant, but if the store was quieter, the cards would
    19        either not be used -----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL: So a card was put on the bin which had
    22        that -----
    23        A.  Behind that last batch, that is right, to indicate when
    24        it should be disposed of.
    25
    26   Q.   You are saying either they ignored the timing or did not
    27        put a card up at all?
    28        A.  Or changed the card; sometimes people changed the
    29        cards, because at the end of every shift the waste would be
    30        counted and it would be held again the person in charge of
    31        that shift if they had a high waste count.
    32
    33   Q.   Then if you turn to Mr. Morris' notes, which should be
    34        behind your own statement.  When you say, "I used to visit
    35        other stores regularly to buy food", do you mean to buy a
    36        meal for yourself?
    37        A.  When I went with other people.  I did not really eat
    38        McDonald's food much after that.
    39
    40   Q.   Do not worry about that.  When you went into another
    41        store -----
    42        A.  I used to always check the cards, because I knew that
    43        that rule was very rarely adhered to; and often you would
    44        see a card in there which indicated something should have
    45        been thrown away 20 minutes ago, and it would still be
    46        sitting in there, ready to be sold.  As I said in this
    47        statement, only a few weeks ago that was the case in a
    48        Nottingham store that I went into with a friend.
    49
    50   Q.   Yes.  The cards did not actually have clocks on them 
    51        themselves? 
    52        A.  No.  For example, if something was put in -- if a 
    53        hamburger was in a production bin now, it would have to
    54        have a "4" on it, because that is the nearest to ten
    55        minutes when it should be disposed of.  By the time the
    56        minute hand gets to 4, it should be thrown away.
    57
    58   Q.   So a customer, unless they knew the system, would not
    59        necessarily appreciate that the significance of the "4" was
    60        the 4 on the -----

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