Day 198 - 08 Dec 95 - Page 11

     
     1        A.  It depends what you call frequently.
     2
     3   Q.   Enough to make significant savings in your labour costs,
     4        Mr. Coton?
     5        A.  I have already said that it was a practice that was
     6        taken out.
     7
     8   Q.   It was not just an occasional thing done by Sally Spurgeon
     9        without your knowing about it, was it?
    10        A.  I never said I did not know about it.  I said that
    11        I did know about it.  When we were told to stop the
    12        practice, that is when it was stopped.
    13
    14   Q.   Why would she go on doing it as a First Assistant?  What
    15        has she got to gain from that?
    16        A.  What has she got to gain from it?
    17
    18   Q.   Yes, after you told her to stop it?
    19        A.  A question that she would never actually say.
    20
    Q.   Sorry, I did not hear that.  My fault.  A question of what?
    22        A.  There were numerous occasions when it was put to her,
    23        she would never come up with the true reason as to why she
    24        was doing it.  She just thought she was helping by doing
    25        it.
    26
    27   Q.   Did you tell her to stop doing it?
    28        A.  I told her to stop doing it.
    29
    30   Q.   Why would she have gone on doing it?  That would not have
    31        helped you at all, would it?
    32        A.  No, it did not and she was fully aware of the fact.  I
    33        mean, we were both personal -- very good personal friends
    34        as well.  I told her that if she did go on with it, she was
    35        in danger of losing her job.  It was made very clear to her
    36        that that would actually happen if she carried on doing it.
    37
    38   Q.   The fact is, is it not, Mr. Coton, that Mr. Skehel got wind
    39        of this, did he not?
    40        A.  Mr. Skehel knew it was going on because, as a Store
         Manager, he used to practice the same things.
    42
    43   Q.   No, no.  He got wind of the fact that you and Sally
    44        Spurgeon were doing this, did he not?
    45        A.  No, he did not get wind of it.  He knew the practice
    46        was going on because he did the same ------
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Just pause a moment.  You say Mr. Skehel had
    49        done it as a Store Manager?
    50        A.  In conversation -- I have got no proof that he did it 
    51        as a Store Manager, but in conversations that we actually 
    52        had when we were Managers together, it was obvious from the 
    53        things he had said that these type of practices went on
    54        with him as well.
    55
    56   MR. RAMPTON:  It was not Sally Spurgeon's job that you were
    57        worried about, was it, it was your own?
    58        A.  Not at that stage, no, not on this particular
    59        occasion.  In fact, it should be documented with people,
    60        certainly with Sally Spurgeon herself, that Neil Skehel