Day 116 - 26 Apr 95 - Page 06
1 what Civil Evidence Act witnesses there are in that section
2 of the case and expressly mention them.
3
4 MR. MORRIS: It might be useful to set a time aside, say, at the
5 end of a week where we are going to do that because we will
6 need time to check.
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are under no pressure as to time. What
9 I am doing is putting the obligation on you at some stage
10 before I go away at the end of the case to make sure I have
11 actually a note of the witness where he or she is to be
12 found so I do not overlook it. That is all.
13
14 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, the other thing, I remind your Lordship,
15 is that your Lordship did indicate, whether today or
16 sometime in the near future -- it has to be in the near
17 future for administrative reasons -- the Defendants should
18 give an estimate of the amount of time that they expected
19 they would use cross-examining my employment witnesses, the
20 ones that have been listed, that is to say. Your Lordship
21 said that again on 6th April.
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If you are ready to do that by the time we
24 come to the end of Mr. Nicholson's evidence-in-chief, that
25 will be extremely helpful, otherwise when we come back to
26 begin your cross-examination of Mr. Nicholson, I would be
27 grateful if that could be done.
28
29 MR. RAMPTON: I say (and I hope it will be welcome) I do not
30 expect Mr. Nicholson will extend much beyond the middle of
31 tomorrow morning in-chief.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, very well.
34
35 MR. SIDNEY THOMPSON NICHOLSON, sworn.
36 Examined by Mr. Rampton.
37
38 Q. Mr. Nicholson, do you give your address as McDonald's
39 Restaurants Limited, 11-59 High Road, East Finchley, London
40 N2?
41 A. I do.
42
43 Q. Are you presently the Ombudsman of the Second Plaintiff in
44 this case?
45 A. I am.
46
47 Q. What does the Ombudsman do in McDonald's?
48 A. The Ombudsman's role is to identify the problems that
49 arise anywhere within the organisation, to look into those
50 problems and then make recommendations for resolving them.
51
52 Q. Does that include problems amongst staff?
53 A. It includes problems between staff and their seniors.
54 It could include problems between franchisees and the
55 organisation. It could include problems between
56 franchisees and franchisees.
57
58 Q. You were, I think, from 1984 to 1992 the Head of
59 Personnel ---
60 A. That is correct.