Day 295 - 06 Nov 96 - Page 08
1 of that whose complaints might actually be taken seriously
2 and end up, for example, with a form being filled out.
3
4 So it could be 5 percent of 5 percent of 5 percent, or it
5 could be 10 percent of 10 percent of 10 percent. So if we
6 have three complaints, three forms filled out per year per
7 store, that might indicate, if you increase it by a
8 factororial of 10 three times over, 10 times 10 times 10,
9 to allow for the obvious under-reporting, that could be
10 magnified by a thousand, in terms of the reality of the
11 receipt of undercooked food.
12
13 So if there are something like 2,000 complaints a year or
14 whatever, we would say that the reality is that 200,000
15 customers may have received -- sorry, two million customer
16 visits could have resulted in undercooked burgers. It
17 might indeed be far more, especially when you consider
18 take-out. Half the business is take-out and people are
19 very unlikely to go back having disappeared with their
20 food.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I had already made a note about that
23 myself. I must say at the moment, if it is eat-in, I can
24 see some people might not complain if it was a beefburger
25 which was undercooked because some people actually quite
26 like them; it may not be good for them, but they might like
27 them not very well cooked.
28
29 Undercooked chicken is virtually inedible. I mean, it is
30 an unpleasant taste as opposed to a not very good one. So
31 one might expect most people eating in would complain if
32 their chicken was not cooked properly.
33
34 You have the point, of course, that even if they complain
35 what happens; it is replaced, of course there is bound to
36 be another one just waiting anyway, and I very much take
37 that point into account. But there we are, anyway.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: Yes. So, carrying on through this document, I am
40 not picking out only the things I think are significant; I
41 am picking out things ----
42
43 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No, I am going to read every word of this.
44 Do not concern yourself about that. If I may say so, this
45 is very helpful.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: Right. You know, I think actually it is helpful,
48 but it is very much a core in itself, because they have
49 only picked out five or six references for a whole witness
50 or something, but it is helpful, it is saving me having to
51 do that job, which I would not have been able to have
52 done.
53
54 The bacterial contamination tests at McKeys, which are
55 first referred to on page 39. I think it is possibly out
56 of place, that page, because he seemed to start in full
57 flow, David Walker, on page 42. Nevertheless, David Walker
58 deals mainly with the issue of microbiological testing, or
59 that is one of the things he deals with.
60
