Jury Service

goggle

I have been called for Jury Service in October - in some ways I'm quite excited, I have always wanted to do it, but in others I'm kind of nervous!

Timing's not great as if I do end up serving I'll have to miss a work conference that is both enjoyable & useful - I'm kind of hoping that they'll call me Monday/Tues/even Weds & then let me off Thurs/Fri so I can go to the conference, but I know it's unlikely!!

Anyone got any tips/advice about being a juror & what sort of thing you end up doing etc? Someone told me to take a good book as there's a LOT of hanging around!!

I have been called to Birmingham Crown courts & the documentation says they will refund my train fare to get there which is good as that will mount up. However I'm a little confused about the meal allowance - apparently I can claim the money or use a pre-paid card for food there. I have a number of food allergies so can't always eat from standard canteens - anyone know what the arrangements at Birmingham are & whether you can go & buy a sandwich or take a packed lunch or .....

cuttersblade

Well i cant tell you anything about Birmingham Crown Court, but i can tell you that you could be put in a trial of just about anything. Your daily routine will normally depend upon the judge and whether they have set times that they like to finish or have lunch.
A case can go on for 2 weeks easily if there's alot of evidence to get through so i doubt you would get thurs/fri off.

Meepster

cuttersblade wrote: »

A case can go on for 2 weeks easily if there's alot of evidence to get through so i doubt you would get thurs/fri off.

Or even longer, as in my case. You could be on the jury for ANYTHING. A friend of mine was on the jury for an assault case and was there for 2 days, they had a day and a half of evidence and an hours deliberation on one charge. I was on a !!!!!philia/child abuse case and was there for a couple of months, with the deliberation lasting 3 days, on a total of six charges. We lost two people off the jury over this time as they couldn't cope with the mental/emotional strain of hearing the evidence from the young girls who had made the allegations...

Really hope you don't get a case as bad as that...

goggle

I don't think work would be willing to release me to serve for 2 months, but if that's the case we'll have to see what happens!
I'm a rational type of person and feel that I could cope with a difficult case if necessary - I just hope there's wi-fi at the court or I'll lose my mind through boredom over lunch etc!!

cuttersblade

Well i don't know about there being WIFI at the court but you can always go out for lunch, there are usually pubs near courts or coffee shops or something.

tanith

goggle wrote: »

I don't think work would be willing to release me to serve for 2 months, but if that's the case we'll have to see what happens!
I'm a rational type of person and feel that I could cope with a difficult case if necessary - I just hope there's wi-fi at the court or I'll lose my mind through boredom over lunch etc!!

I don't think your work will get a choice if its a long case its something they just have to put up with... I hope you get something interesting (but not something horrible) and not a fraud case as was the case with my MIL she was on it for 4mths .. I just know I wouldn't be able to concentrate if that had been me...

SailorSam

You can spend a lot of the time just sitting around waiting. They'll call names for cases in the morning, if you are'nt chosen you still need to wait 'cos you may be called for a case later in the day, so take a book.
The meals in Liverpool were fine we had a choice of about half a dozen, but got there late one day when we kept in court and only had the leftovers.

LittleVoice

Mysolicitorisbetter wrote: »

Be careful about what your reclaiming etc. If your employer continues to pay you in full they may be entitled to part or all of this.

There is a "loss of earnings" amount which can be claimed - up to a not very high daily limit. I believe your employer has to complete the form to confirm the amount. You either receive payment from the court for that and then pay it over to your employer or keep the court money but the employer doesn't pay you the amount recovered from the court. There could be an advantage in the latter because if you hand over the money to your employer, you will be paying NI contributions on that amount.

Your employer cannot take any of the court reimbursement which was in respect of travel or subsistence.

orangeslimes

For most people I have known it has been an anti climax i.e they phoned up the day before and weren't actually needed anymore.
I actually had to go and all that happened was that I sat for two hours while other people's names were picked out of a hat and then went to meet my friend for lunch. It was quite interesting though to see how it worked and the case I was called for sounded interesting (involving selling stolen goods from work on ebay)

KazMack

I'm from Scotland so its different here. I know here though you need to do at least three days. Which means if you get called and put on one which lasts two days, you have to return the following day and possible chance of being on a second case. I did I think it was Friday to Tuesday. I can recall the three day thing cause they tried to get us to redo it til someone reminded them we had started the week before.

I was originally due for selection on the Monday though, but a case got held back and wasn't til the Friday I went in. Not uncommon I wouldn't think. Therefore its pretty much impossible to judge what days you will be in jury duty... I know its very different in England. The selection process works differently from what I've been told from people who have done it.

If you do get selected though, yes lots of waiting about. Every time information the court is to discuss but the jury can't hear they kick you out. Which can happen a lot. Although you have the rest of the jury so I never read myself just chatted with everyone.

Joelleski

When I got called a couple of years ago I actually only ended up serving 2 and a half days (and much of that was just spent waiting) although I did get picked for a trial we weren't needed as the case got thrown out due to lack of evidence. Make sure you bring a good book to alleviate the boredom! Saying that, however, it was interesting to see how it all worked.