Day 132 - 07 Jun 95 - Page 13

     
     1
     2   MR. MORRIS (To the witness):  What is the turnover of your
     3        business, Purslow Associates?
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You need not answer that.
     6
     7   MR. MORRIS:  He can answer that.  (To the witness):  There is
     8        nothing to hide, is there?
     9
    10   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, I object.  It is irrelevant.
    11
    12   THE WITNESS:   I do not see it is relevant.
    13
    14   MR. MORRIS:  How much do you get from McDonald's then for your
    15        business?
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, that is just another way.  He has given
    18        you a percentage.  As far as I am concerned, unless some
    19        specific relevance can be shown, enquiries as to witnesses'
    20        income, be it net or gross, are an unnecessary intrusion
         into their privacy.  If there is a specific reason, and
    22        compelling reason, which shows that it is relevant to an
    23        issue in the case, then that is another matter, but
    24        otherwise it is an intrusion into privacy which is not
    25        justified.
    26
    27   MR. MORRIS:  In terms of the structure ----
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You have a percentage of turnover.
    30
    31   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You can work on that in argument, if you
    34        wish, in due course.
    35
    36   MR. MORRIS (To the witness):  In terms of structure of your
    37        company, when you are paid by McDonald's, a part of that
    38        pay goes to the company and part goes to you?
    39        A.  I am a sole trader, in effect.
    40
    MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You are a sole practitioner ---
    42        A.  Indeed.
    43
    44   Q.   -- who engages from time to time one, it seems to me, of a
    45        small pool of experts who you term your "associates"?
    46        A.  Entirely so, my Lord.
    47
    48   Q.   It is a system which works in all sorts of areas of
    49        professional expertise?
    50        A.  Indeed, particularly things like architectural 
    51        practices and so on and so forth. 
    52 
    53   MS. STEEL:   I am not very happy about the fact that we are not
    54        allowed to ask about how much witnesses are being paid by
    55        McDonald's.  Two and a half per cent or two and a half to 5
    56        per cent may be £10,000, it might be half a million
    57        pounds.  Witnesses who are crew people, there is no
    58        embarrassment about them having everybody knowing how much
    59        they are earning or how much they are getting.  It seems
    60        that, you know, it is only to save the embarrassment if