Jury service

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by Jan

I hate to think of having to do jury service for months on end! I am sure I would fall asleep with boredom!

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The most boring thing is the endless hours sat in the Jury room. Once you see ‘action’ which you may not get to see in the 2 week stint, it’s often very interesting.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

The most boring thing is the endless hours sat in the Jury room. Once you see ‘action’ which you may not get to see in the 2 week stint, it’s often very interesting.

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I would love to be called for jury service, not happened so far. I dint know many people that have been called, but of those I do know, they have all reported spending the majority of the time sitting around doing nothing.

[returnplanning]

I work for the NHS and was paid for my jury service time.

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by Claudette

I would love to be called for jury service, not happened so far. I dint know many people that have been called, but of those I do know, they have all reported spending the majority of the time sitting around doing nothing.

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Yes I did 2 weeks. I took my laptop as I had a business to run. In 2 weeks I sat on one half day of part heard trial, before the judge threw the case out.

What was an eye opener is that in the work room set aside in the jury room, there were 2-3 people out of about 100 doing any work. Everyone else sat around playing cards, watching TV etc. I heard quite a few gloating as to how it was better than working and how they would like to get on the 6 week trial that was being listed. I was desperate to get back to work as I was running a business.

[Chilli-pepper]

It will depend on the case (if) you get one as to how boring it would be, I was on a 5 week murder trial, there was very little sitting around as it was full on, only once the trail was adjourned for the day early due to problems in transporting the accused (there were two on trial) so we were able to go home and once we had to go back to the jury room due to the need to discuss a point in law. We spent 2 days deliberating before the final decision

Because of the nature and high profile of this case we were all provided with letters of exemption from the judge to be excused for further jury duty if we were to be called again.

[Bella Girl]

When I did it, my employer paid me but the agreement was that if I was sent home early from court, I would go back to work. As others have said, there can be a lot of hanging around and on several days I returned to work.

An observation is that when we arrived in the morning of the 1st day, the court attendant asked if anyone had any childcare issues and immediately excused that person from duty. At the same time, they excused a lady with severe mobility issues who was struggling to get into the room and 2 other people who were complaining very quickly when they arrived about the Jury waiting room being cold.

Just saying for anyone not keen...

[JLH]

I did it this year , I have two jobs and both didn’t or wouldn’t have paid . Luckily or unluckily 😂 I was on holiday the first week ( wasn’t going away ) and I only got used during that first week so didn’t actually lose any money ( but waste of a holiday ). Out of two weeks I only had one case that lasted a day but first two days were spent waiting to see if I got called . After that case I was told we would be notified by 6pm each evening if we would be needed anymore within the two weeks .

[themeparksandy]

I was up for Jury Service 17 years ago but my boss got me off it as he wrote to them saying I was the only person who could work my machine. In the letter it said your employees paid you your normal wage and they claimed it back.

[scooby99]

I’ve been called twice; firstly, 20+ years ago, sat around for 4 days then was one of the 15 called into a courtroom for final 12 to be selected at random; not selected & released from duty.
Secondly, called during a time of pre-booked holiday; replied with dates of leave asking for a delay & then asked to submit any other dates that I wouldn’t be available; already had 3-4 other holidays booked so supplied those dates & was sent another 2 week period to attend for JS.

On both occasions, my employers paid me in full; 2 different employers.

My second stint of JS was 2 years ago; sat around for 4 days just waiting; on day 5, was called to get ready to go into a new case & then advised of a delay then another; 4 hours later told that the case would not be heard as the defendant had changed their plea to guilty.
Sat on 2 cases, each lasting 2 days; 1st case saw our jury take around 3 hours to reach a majority decision; 2nd case saw our jury reach a unaminous verdict within 5 minutes!
For each case, we were advised the day before that we’d be going into deliberate the verdict the next day and we needed to bring our own food/drinks in with us as once ‘locked’ in for that, no-one is allowed in or out until a decision is reached.
All who started on the same day as me were released after 8 days.

[MinniMouse]

Originally Posted by danisleigh

You can claim £64 per day if it is more than 4 hours plus your travel expenses and food expenses. That would be fine for my but DH earns a lot more so would be out of pocket which would be fine for a week but wouldn’t be great for a long period of time.

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Is this for Scotland too? I had no idea of the rules. I assumed the court covered any earnings lost, no matter how much you earned. I work in a GP surgery and we get so many requests for letters requesting exemption from jury service and I assumed it was just people didn't or couldn't want to do it but I can see now if this is the case. My son was called in for jury duty 3 days in a row, sat in a room for 3 mornings and then was let go. Got his travel back and thankfully was still paid by his employer.