Day 122 - 05 May 95 - Page 17

     
     1        four or five questions about.
     2
     3   MS. STEEL:   When was the instruction to staff, which you refer
     4        to in your statement, about not changing electrical
     5        equipment, or not repairing electrical equipment, brought
     6        in?
     7        A.  I cannot remember.  There have been several sent out by
     8        different people.  I cannot remember.  But I have seen
     9        several reports, memos, both regional and national on this
    10        particular subject.  Well "several" is perhaps an
    11        exaggeration, certainly more than one.
    12
    13   Q.   I have not got Mr. Alimi's third statement with me, but
    14        Mr. Alimi, who worked in the Colchester store, said he was
    15        required to carry out electrical repairs and he had not
    16        received any training.  That was in the mid-1980s?
    17        A.  I can not comment on that.  I have no knowledge of
    18        Mr. Alimi.
    19
    20   Q.   Do you know what the position was in the mid-1980s?  You
         cannot remember whether it was different then, whether
    22        staff did have to have training?
    23        A.  No, it was not different.  I can remember when I first
    24        started in McDonald's, and I did my month in-store training
    25        at Dartford, I was told one of the things that we did not
    26        do was to interfere with electrical equipment.
    27
    28   Q.   Not evening changing plugs?
    29        A.  Especially not changing plugs.
    30
    31   Q.   If Mr. Alimi is connect, then the Colchester store was
    32        blatantly disregarding company policy on this matter?
    33        A.  If Mr. Alimi is correct it was wrong for him to change
    34        a plug without training.
    35
    36   Q.   Right, but if he was instructed to do that by the
    37        management at the Colchester store they would have been
    38        blatantly disregarding company policy?
    39        A.  The answer is no different.
    40
    Q.   Or if they knew it was going on?
    42        A.  The answer is no different.  The policy was unless you
    43        were trained, you did not change or touch electrical -- not
    44        touch, but you did not try to repair electrical equipment.
    45
    46   Q.   So the store was disregarding the policy?
    47        A.  If what Mr. Alimi says was correct the store was
    48        disregarding company policy.
    49
    50   Q.   Was this another policy that it was basically up to stores 
    51        whether they chose to adhere to or not? 
    52        A.  No. 
    53
    54   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I notice that there is a difference
    55        between the Crew Handbook for 1986, where the only
    56        reference I can find to handing electrical equipment is at
    57        (f), page 46, tab 1, volume XI, and what was the position
    58        in, I think it is 1989, or it may be 1991 where there is a
    59        lot more about it on, for example, page 230, tab 4.
    60