Day 077 - 25 Jan 95 - Page 21

     
     1   Q.   Do you think that they trust you to do what they require?
     2        A.  I am sure of it.
     3
     4   Q.   Do you trust your own people to do ---
     5        A.  Yes.
     6
     7   Q.   -- what you require?
     8        A.  Yes, I trust them.  I have trained them and I have a
     9        system of management and checks and counter checks and
    10        balances which makes me have absolute confidence.
    11
    12   Q.   To what extent do you personally get to go to an abattoir
    13        nowadays?
    14        A.  These days not as often as I used to, but, I mean, I am
    15        visiting abattoirs at least once a month, at least.
    16
    17   Q.   Is McKey Foods Services, indeed the Group perhaps, I do not
    18        know, is it a member of the Humane Slaughter Association?
    19        A.  Yes, it is.
    20
    Q.   Does membership of that Association add anything to the
    22        concerns for animal welfare that you have already told us
    23        about?
    24        A.  It just shows that we are concerned about it and we
    25        support it.  We support the audits which the Humane Society
    26        carries out.
    27
    28   Q.   In what way do you support them; is that just moral
    29        support?
    30        A.  No, we pay a fee to them every year.
    31
    32   Q.   Is that in any sense a legal obligation?
    33        A.  No, there is no legal requirement whatsoever to do
    34        that.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Is that a convenient moment to have our
    37        break?
    38
    39   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, I was just about to ask him to look at
    40        another document.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  One thing, I do not think you gave a date for
    43        the time when you moved from taking your supplies of pork
    44        from GD Bowes to using other suppliers as well.  When did
    45        that happen?
    46        A.  It happened last year, sir.  It only happened in reply
    47        to the increased demand of McDonald's.
    48
    49   Q.   So that is 1994?
    50        A.  Yes, sir. 
    51 
    52                       (Short Adjournment) 
    53
    54   MR. RAMPTON:  Mr. Walker, since McKey was born in 1978, so far
    55        as your interest in the business is concerned, have you
    56        been the person in charge of its daily operation?
    57        A.  Absolutely.
    58
    59   Q.   So you have been, in effect, Managing Director or Chief
    60        Executive, call it what you like, since the beginning, have