Day 169 - 04 Oct 95 - Page 05
1 that is right.
2
3 Q. Or up to three weeks?
4 A. Well, we would take a decision based on when they were
5 going to come back. Whether that was a month, whether that
6 was six weeks, whether that was three weeks, would depend
7 upon whether we definitely knew they were coming back.
8
9 Q. Presumably, most of them say to you whether or not they are
10 going to come back?
11 A. Yes, but there are lots of them who say, for instance:
12 "I cannot work, I am going away for the Christmas break,
13 I cannot work until Easter because I have to revise for
14 exams", so they will not come back and work for us until
15 Easter, whereas they could come back and work for us three
16 weeks after they have gone away, but they want that term to
17 revise.
18
19 Q. You said in your statement that steps are always taken to
20 ensure that an efficient recruitment programme is in place?
21 A. That is correct.
22
23 Q. I was not quite sure what you meant by that -- perhaps you
24 could explain?
25 A. If, for instance, we know we are coming up to the
26 summer break then we will get in contact with the people
27 who normally come back and work for us during the summer
28 and find out if they have finished their courses, if they
29 are available to work over the summer, if they are going
30 around Europe, and we will have a plan of exactly how many
31 people we need to staff the restaurant, and we will staff
32 up accordingly. If we need to hire locally, then we will
33 hire.
34
35 Q. So when you say that steps are always taken, you are not
36 saying that there is a recruitment programme in process the
37 whole year round?
38 A. No, it is just like a continual assessment. We will
39 plan six or eight months ahead, certainly at least two
40 quarters ahead, and we will have an idea what our sales
41 will be and, therefore, what our employee numbers will need
42 to be.
43
44 Q. Were you actually on duty on the night of 9th November
45 1994?
46 A. I was not. Mike Logan was scheduled to run the night
47 shift.
48
49 Q. Who would have set the schedule for that night?
50 A. Whoever the scheduling Manager was at the time --
51 presumably, it would have been Ian Hendon.
52
53 Q. So you do not know who set the schedule?
54 A. It would have been the scheduling Manager at the time.
55 I cannot remember who was doing the schedule 10 months ago.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: How can you remember 9th November anyway?
58 A. The 9th November -- because I had a day off and I had
59 to come in and run the night shift because Mike Logan
60 resigned.