Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 06

     
     1        feature.  He has suggested they found confusion over the
     2        buzzers.  Has that been a common feature to more than one
     3        complaint?
     4        A.  It has been a likely source.  You can never be a
     5        hundred per cent positive, but it has been a common factor.
     6
     7   Q.   It has been a possible common feature, has it?
     8        A.  Yes, that is correct.
     9
    10   Q.   Have there been any other possible common features?
    11        A.  No, the common feature would be that the fact, if there
    12        was a food poisoning or an under-cooking is exactly that,
    13        the food has not been fully cooked properly.
    14
    15   Q.   I understand, but we are going back one step further and a
    16        common feature which might account for that might be a
    17        confusion over the buzzers.  Are there any other possible
    18        common features which might result in under-cooking that
    19        you can call to mind?
    20        A.  I would not say there is any other common features, but
         there are other possibilities, obviously, that would cause
    22        it but none that are common.
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:  Do you actually compare the times of when customers
    25        purchase products ---
    26        A.  Yes, we have.
    27
    28   Q.   -- when complaints are made?
    29        A.  Yes, we have compared on nearly everything that you can
    30        to see if there are any common factors because, as a
    31        company, we do not want to be selling any under-cooked or
    32        raw products, so we have looked at virtually every
    33        permutation you can think of to see what common factors run
    34        through.
    35
    36   Q.   But you have not looked at the results of the Preston
    37        incident?
    38        A.  No, as I say, we work as a team when we do this.  We
    39        have a product integrity team that involves members from
    40        every single department because it cannot just be me, me
         alone.  I do not have a great deal of involvement in the
    42        day-to-day running of restaurants at all, so we have a
    43        cross functional team.  There are members from various
    44        different departments that would be involved in those sort
    45        of investigations.
    46
    47   Q.   I mean, Mr. Atherton did say that you were the person that
    48        we should ask about these investigations.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Whatever Mr. Rampton said, he can only give 
    51        his answers. 
    52 
    53   MS. STEEL:  Mr. Atherton.
    54
    55   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Mr. Atherton -- whatever Mr. Atherton said,
    56        he can only give his answer.  He is not Mr. Atherton.
    57
    58   MS. STEEL:  So Mr. Atherton was wrong; you are not the person we
    59        should ask?
    60        A.  I am not the person you should ask about Preston.  I am