Jury service

Skiddaw1

Rtj123 said:

Skiddaw1 said:

I've served and so has my husband. I was lucky in that I was chosen on my first day and the trial lasted well into the second week (after which most of us were discharged) but my husband wasn't chosen until his second to last day, by which time he was heartily fed up of sitting around drinking manky vending machine coffee! Hope the remainder of your time goes well @Rtj123 . It'll be a lot less stressful once you're actually on a trial- honestly...

thanks. When your husband was selected on his second to last day, did he end up staying for over the 2 weeks?

No- the case he was allocated to only lasted for a day (after which he was discharged).

Edited to say: I agree with what some posters have said-  I hadn't expected to feel such a weight of responsibility when we were reaching our conclusion (which was a majority verdict in the end). 11 of the 12 of us had never sat on a jury previously but the youngest jourer, who was in her very early 20's, had already been called for jury service twice. Which goes to show how random it is.

Murphybear

I would love to do jury service.  I got called once in my 20s but my boss told me I was exempt as the Dept I worked for in the NHS was classed as an emergency service.  (I was working in the laboratories of the NBTS)

Rtj123

Does anyone know how the trial dates are given? Say if a case is expected to last 4 days but then only takes 2, do they bring the next case forward whenever free or do they stick to the date they have given out? I’m assuming they need time to gather the people needed for a trial to start?

Andy_L

Rtj123 said:

Does anyone know how the trial dates are given? Say if a case is expected to last 4 days but then only takes 2, do they bring the next case forward whenever free or do they stick to the date they have given out? I’m assuming they need time to gather the people needed for a trial to start?

AIUI, a bit like airlines, they "overbook" the courts because some cases will be cancelled/postponed/resolved at the last minute so they will always have more cases ready to go.
Equally there will be people sat around waiting for they case who will find it is cancelled because they have ran out slots to fit it in

Naughtynat

Sorry to jump on the post - I start jury service in 2 weeks. I have just asked my employers if they are going to pay me as usual and then claim back from the court. I am a bit worried that if they decide not to pay me, the daily amount that I can claim back from the court is less than my daily earnings at work. I cannot seem to find any information on what happens in these circumstances. Can anyone advise?

elsien

I think you lose out.
https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/what-you-can-claim-if-youre-an-employee

[Deleted User]

@Rtj123 how did this go ?

Ectophile

Naughtynat said:

Sorry to jump on the post - I start jury service in 2 weeks. I have just asked my employers if they are going to pay me as usual and then claim back from the court. I am a bit worried that if they decide not to pay me, the daily amount that I can claim back from the court is less than my daily earnings at work. I cannot seem to find any information on what happens in these circumstances. Can anyone advise?

You get the amount that the court pays you.

But don't forget to claim expenses too.

HillStreetBlues

How jury service goes can depend greatly on the case you get.
One of my two cases involved a guy caught with XXX  videos of young children (claimed they were adults)
We were going to have to watch these and then give a verdict.
Thankfully he pleaded guilty before we had to view them.

Ectophile

Rtj123 said:

Does anyone know how the trial dates are given? Say if a case is expected to last 4 days but then only takes 2, do they bring the next case forward whenever free or do they stick to the date they have given out? I’m assuming they need time to gather the people needed for a trial to start?

When I did it, many years ago, the courts had several court rooms.  Cases would be ending and new cases would be starting every day.

So all us jurors turned up in the morning, and they would pick some of us at random to be herded into whichever court room was about to hear a case.  Anyone left over was sent home for the day.

Most cases are pretty quick - only a few days.  If your case ends and you still have jury service left to run, then you get recycled round the system to hear another case.