The SFE - Doc 113 Saxmundham Fireman
2nd July 1998
After X had been interviewed by Divisional Officer Colin Hodge and ADO Bob Middleton and just before lunch at 13.00 hours he was then interviewed/consulted by Divisional Officer Robert Batchelor. By this time DO Batchelor had been appointed as the Suffolk Divisional Officer responsible for brigade training. Therefore, X’s head of department in the chain of command.
The purpose of the interview was X’s supervisory report for the soon to be had Station Officer assessments (next day 3rd July 1998). The supervisory officer being ADO Paul Hayden (now Chief Fire Officer Hereford & Worcester).
The Divisional Officers involvement in discussing the report is/was very unusual. I.e. it is normal for the person making the report to discus it with the subject. At the same time it was not as if ADO Hayden was not available as he was the summoning officer and usher of X into see DO Batchelor. That said there was a perceptible look and feel of embarrassment/shame to ADO Hayden when all this was going on. So he must have preferred somebody else to outline his report. And it seems DO Batchelor was a willing helper and volunteer. As to why seemed to be made clear pretty quick.
Might be worth a look at ADO Hayden’s assessment of X some thirteen months earlier when he provided the latter with a reference for a job application? (see Doc 22)
Anyway top and bottom of the discussion was that DO Batchelor said ‘this is extremely poor and not good enough.’
Well as one might imagine that comment was like a red rag to a bull and X turned to a stern blunt discussion of each of the many individual assessment points in the standard report form.
From that specific attention DO Batchelor found himself unable to justify the report details. Of course this was not helped by the fact that he himself had not contributed to the report or bothered to read it before meeting X. So all in all it ended up in DO Batchelor being beached and unable to defend the constructive criticism unleashed by X. Eventually, after a short period of being unable to defend himself against X’s logical counter argument he flew into a rage and bleated out the following to X.
‘its your name that’s mentioned or crops up with the greatest regularity in conversations at Ipswich’
It was clear that he knew he should not have blurted those comments out as soon as he made then.
From X the reply was ‘ I beg your pardon, what did you say?’
DO Batchelor refused to expand and immediately terminated the interview and disappeared down for lunch as quick as his varicose vein cratered legs could carry him.
After X had been interviewed by Divisional Officer Colin Hodge and ADO Bob Middleton and just before lunch at 13.00 hours he was then interviewed/consulted by Divisional Officer Robert Batchelor. By this time DO Batchelor had been appointed as the Suffolk Divisional Officer responsible for brigade training. Therefore, X’s head of department in the chain of command.
The purpose of the interview was X’s supervisory report for the soon to be had Station Officer assessments (next day 3rd July 1998). The supervisory officer being ADO Paul Hayden (now Chief Fire Officer Hereford & Worcester).
The Divisional Officers involvement in discussing the report is/was very unusual. I.e. it is normal for the person making the report to discus it with the subject. At the same time it was not as if ADO Hayden was not available as he was the summoning officer and usher of X into see DO Batchelor. That said there was a perceptible look and feel of embarrassment/shame to ADO Hayden when all this was going on. So he must have preferred somebody else to outline his report. And it seems DO Batchelor was a willing helper and volunteer. As to why seemed to be made clear pretty quick.
Might be worth a look at ADO Hayden’s assessment of X some thirteen months earlier when he provided the latter with a reference for a job application? (see Doc 22)
Anyway top and bottom of the discussion was that DO Batchelor said ‘this is extremely poor and not good enough.’
Well as one might imagine that comment was like a red rag to a bull and X turned to a stern blunt discussion of each of the many individual assessment points in the standard report form.
From that specific attention DO Batchelor found himself unable to justify the report details. Of course this was not helped by the fact that he himself had not contributed to the report or bothered to read it before meeting X. So all in all it ended up in DO Batchelor being beached and unable to defend the constructive criticism unleashed by X. Eventually, after a short period of being unable to defend himself against X’s logical counter argument he flew into a rage and bleated out the following to X.
‘its your name that’s mentioned or crops up with the greatest regularity in conversations at Ipswich’
It was clear that he knew he should not have blurted those comments out as soon as he made then.
From X the reply was ‘ I beg your pardon, what did you say?’
DO Batchelor refused to expand and immediately terminated the interview and disappeared down for lunch as quick as his varicose vein cratered legs could carry him.
posted by Bert Blythburgh at 12:23 AM
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