Day 119 - 02 May 95 - Page 12


     
     1        a McDonald's counter either in Croydon or the Strand,
     2        depending on where one was at the time, that the rap
     3        session was actually filmed in a crew room rather than
     4        somewhere else?
     5        A.  I am perfectly satisfied, my Lord, that that film was
     6        made in Croydon and in the Strand.  I know both stores.
     7        I know a lot of the people who were filmed in that film.
     8        There is no question.
     9
    10   Q.   I know you do not want to take any longer than you have to
    11        over it, but I think you have to point at particular things
    12        if only so that I take them on board now.  I mean,
    13        obviously, the serving of customers as quickly as possible
    14        might be one, but pick the others as well.  I do not know,
    15        for instance, whether later in the day something about what
    16        was being done with the fat might crop up, so I might be
    17        thinking:  Is there something there when, in fact, there
    18        was nothing there at all.  So, do your best.  I appreciate
    19        that you may omit something or other, but do your best to
    20        put the specific points you want to make.
    21
    22   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  (To the witness):  As a general question, was
    23        there anything that you were unhappy with as you were
    24        watching that film, that you thought:  "Blimey, that should
    25        not happen"?
    26        A.  No, I do not think so.  I have seen that film once
    27        before.  We were invited to a preview and I attended along
    28        with some other senior officers of the Company.  I do not
    29        know anything more about it -- I do not know why it was not
    30        shown or anything.  That was several years ago.  I have
    31        only just had that one view of it now.  I did not spot
    32        anything other than the point I made.  I have no criticism
    33        of it otherwise.  There were one or two things in there
    34        that surprised me, but no.
    35
    36   Q.   So would the sort of things that were shown there, with the
    37        reservations you have said, basically typical of McDonald's
    38        stores or McDonald's procedures?
    39        A.  No, I must go back to what I said originally.  It is
    40        typical of stores of that volume.  There are, maybe in this
    41        country, a dozen stores with that kind of volume and that
    42        kind of styling.  The other stores are much lower volume,
    43        much slower; they do not have the pressure of customers
    44        during the lunch-time hours.  They are the busy hours in
    45        any store, but nothing like as busy as that.  They really
    46        are quite exceptional stores and, as I say, I have tried to
    47        work in one and failed miserably.
    48
    49   Q.   So, apart from the pressure and the speed that you saw
    50        there, which only applies to a limited number of stores in 
    51        this country, the actual basic working procedures --- 
    52        A.  Would be the same. 
    53
    54   Q.   -- in those stores would be the same?
    55        A.  Yes.
    56
    57   Q.   Do you have any concern about people in the food production
    58        turning the burgers over, putting their fingers on uncooked
    59        one side and turning it over?
    60        A.  No, because the other side then gets cooked at

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