Day 006 - 05 Jul 94 - Page 16
1 authorities.
2 Q. Is it not a fact that the day after the accident -----
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Are you investigating the circumstances?
4 MR. MORRIS: I am trying to see whether the company is acting
responsible on a national level and taking safety
5 seriously. I cannot interview Andrew Taylor because he is
not a witness.
6
MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, but you have witnesses about what
7 happened and in due course when we have heard the evidence
about, I assume you will make comment to me at the end of
8 case to urge me to the conclusion that McDonald's was not
doing its stuff in relation to the circumstances which
9 prevailed then.
10 MR. MORRIS: OK.
11 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I would suggest that Mr. Preston is not
person to ask about the facts. If you want to suggest he
12 does not know as much as he should about it, then that is
another matter, I understand, but I think you have gone
13 back to the facts of the accident again.
14 MR. MORRIS: I will move on on that. Just one question further
to that, a previous matter I forgot to ask: Do you know
15 of any action taken against any person at management level
in the Northern region following that accident?
16 A. No, I do not.
17 Q. Does that mean, as far as you are concerned, no action was
taken against any individual, no warning?
18 A. You can ask my opinion, do I know of any action taken.
The answer is, no, I do not know of any action being
19 taken.
20 Q. Would Andrew Taylor know if action was taken?
A. I have no way of knowing.
21
Q. Is that something you would be able to find out?
22 A. Probably. I would doubt whether any action was taken
given the circumstances other than an investigation. The
23 tragic event speaks for itself.
24 Q. On employment of young people: It is true there have been
times in the past where McDonald's restaurants have
25 employed young people illegally in conditions that were
illegal?
26 A. Well, what do you mean by "conditions that were
illegal".
27
Q. For example, working illegal hours?
28 A. We have admitted, I believe, for the case, historic
circumstances where things went wrong, things happened. I
29 do not contest them. We are not perfect. Certainly in
the scale of things, McDonald's management personnel do
30 not set out in the morning to say: "How can I break the
law? How can I make people's lives miserable?" Quite the
