Day 101 - 10 Mar 95 - Page 24

     
     1        investigation as well.  The fact that there is no records
     2        in our department means that, as far as I can determine, we
     3        were never told of this incident.
     4
     5   Q.   The letter that is there, is that something that would be a
     6        fairly standard reply to somebody who wrote in complaining
     7        about food poisoning?
     8        A.  I think parts of it are standard, talking about our
     9        operations procedures, but there has obviously been a
    10        certain sort of investigation into the problem because
    11        there is actually figures of numbers of customers and
    12        numbers of hamburgers and french fries purchased from that
    13        particular restaurant on the day in question.  So that is
    14        certainly not -----
    15
    16   Q.   The sentence that reads:  "As we have not received any
    17        further complaints from either customers or staff, we must
    18        conclude your family's purchase from McDonald's was not the
    19        likely cause of the illness", that would be fairly typical
    20        as a response, would it?
         A.  I do not know if it is a typical response, but it is
    22        certainly something that we discussed yesterday.  We would
    23        expect if there was a food a problem with food poisoning or
    24        an under-cooking for it to affect more than one customer.
    25        I think that is what it is angling at.
    26
    27   Q.   You would conclude that it was not the cause because there
    28        was only one complaint, be it involving two people?
    29        A.  I cannot comment on this particular incident because,
    30        obviously, I was not involved in it, but it says here "it
    31        was not the likely cause".  They are not saying, they are
    32        not saying categorically:  "It could not possibly have been
    33        McDonald's".  What they are saying is:  "It does not appear
    34        likely that it was".
    35
    36   Q.   You said you spoke to the store manager on the Isle of
    37        Wight about this?
    38        A.  Yes.
    39
    40   Q.   They had no recollection of this?
         A.  Yes, I spoke to the guy who was store manager at the
    42        Isle of Wight at this time.  He was a manager elsewhere or
    43        even a supervisor, I think, and he had no recollection of
    44        the incident.
    45
    46   Q.   The stores themselves, they keep records of complaints, do
    47        they not?
    48        A.  If the complaint is made to the store, to the store
    49        manager, then they would keep a record of that via their
    50        reporting system. 
    51 
    52   Q.   But if the complaint was made to Head Office the Head 
    53        Office would not forward a copy of the letter to the store
    54        concerned?
    55        A.  Not necessarily, but there has obviously been contact.
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes, there has obviously been an enquiry of
    58        the branch so one would expect the person to know.
    59        A.  I spoke to the store manager at the time.  I mean it is
    60        possible the investigation was conducted -----