Mum has been selected and, after panicking at first, has sorted it with her boss and is going in December.

It’s got me thinking. I know its something any of us can be asked to do, but is there any system in place to ensure the trial doesn’t go on and on and you end up stuck on it for weeks ?

For some it would seem a break from work but, having my own business, my students would not wait more than a couple of weeks for a lesson and it would majorly mess up test bookings.

Any ideas if us self employed can reserve a time to do jury service or if they can limit it to only a few days or couple of weeks ?

Getting stuck on a trial for 5 – 6 weeks would kill my business.

Thanks

Just send them a letter telling them how important you are and you get off without doing it. Problem there is that most jurors are made up of the sitting at home Jeremy Kyle crew.

Jury Service can be deferred for legitimae reasons but there are only specific reasons as to why you can totally get out of it.

Just send an email saying you think he’s guilty and you don’t have to go.

Long trials are few and far between and when selecting juries for them judges do try and take into account such difficulties. Once you’re on the panel though there’s always a risk that things over run.

I’ve done it twice, last year and the year before.. Didn’t have to do it the second time but quite liked it first time round! IIRC they ask if you can stay longer than the two week requirement, if you say no they will only put you on small cases not expected to last very long!

Thing is, you have no idea what case you’ll be trying when you turn up for service. I don’t think it’s something I have to worry about, being an Oirish citizen, but if I got caught up in a long case, I’d be financially screwed. It certainly test my sense of civic duty.

If the trial is scheduled to be more than a couple of weeks the judge should ensure that their jury is capable of committing to this, in the cases I’ve been involved (6 -8 weekers) in this has involved the judge asking jurors for reasons they can’t do a long trial. However it’s apparent that the people with business commitments are the sort of jurors they’re keen to keep, in one trial the lady who ran a business single handed wasnt excused but a guy who fixed swings and slides for the council was. Nobody wants a trial which gets to just past halfway and jurors have to bin off and cause a retrial so some accommodation is made but its not a carte Blanche to avoid ones duty. You can ask for a deferment to a different time and in my recent experience if you contact the jury service in person and in plenty of time they are quite helpful, again they want the system to run as smoothly as possible

Not much gets you off!..

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/delaying-or-being-excused-from-jury-service

Cheers

Danny B

Irish citizens can vote in the uk If you are on the electoral register you may be called. My mother is Irish / British subject and has been called twice

Cheers Guys

Mum says at least it won’t run over Xmas so she will get the break.

To not go, would it be a criminal offence, or just a fine ? If it’s just a fine without any conviction, I’d probably just pay that than the possibility of my business being screwed up.

I was on a one and half month fraud case jury… the judge made it mornings only well 9 – 1 so I could get to work afterwards for a few hours. Work were very good and didn’t dock my pay saving me the hassle of claiming and the tax payer a few pennies. Boring as **** though.

£1000 fine by the looks of things.

I don’t know what happens after that though, whether they call you again and you can be fined repeatedly.

Alternatively if you have been in prison at all in the last 10 years you will be excused so maybe kill a cyclist when driving, get a couple of days in the clink and you’re sorted…

Not much gets you off!..

I’m eligible for jury duty in England, so when I got called in Scotland recently my heart sank. But…i’m ineligible here 🙂

Duplicate

Alternatively if you have been in prison at all in the last 10 years you will be excused so maybe kill a cyclist when driving, get a couple of days in the clink and you’re sorted…

You’ll be lucky to get more than 6 points 🙁

I’ve been called up 3 times and simply written them a note saying I am too busy to attend. Been excused every time and not been asked in the last couple of years. Its rather quite straight forward.

I reckon if you had a Henna tattoo of a swastika on your forehead and turned up in a National Front / Combat 18 T-shirt, you might get let off….

BTW you can make sure you’re not on a longer case by booking a holiday directly after your 2 weeks service. During the selection process and the Judge thinks it will overrun he will ask if there’s any reason why you can’t sit on a longer case and a previously booked holiday was a valid reason.

Alternatively if you have been in prison at all in the last 10 years you will be excused so maybe kill a cyclist when driving, get a couple of days in the clink and you’re sorted…

Not a great plan, the chances of getting any prison time for killing a cyclist seem low..

On the question, you can defer, but only once, so when you get called the second time, you’re going to have to go.

If it looks like a long (more than two week) trial the judge will talk to the potential jurors about it and try and get 12 who can stay for the long haul, so pensioners mainly (the unwaged should be out looking for work so the Jeremy Kyle crowd are less likely to get the long trials than you might think).

I’ve been called up 3 times and simply written them a note saying I am too busy to attend.

This would have been more amusing if you had asked your PA to write them a note.

You are Cyrus Pallonji Mistry and I claim my £5.

This would have been more amusing if you had asked your PA to write them a note.

I did, but they phoned up saying they don’t take written notes on your behalf, it has to come directly from the juror. So I took the note and re-wrote it.

I would be totally screwed if I had to do it – anything much more than a week and it’d put me out of business. The couple of times it’s come up, I’ve just written a letter saying that I run a one-person business and cannot hire a replacement, and I hear nothing more of it.

I’m intelligible in Scotland because of work. In England this is not the case, and one of my former colleagues was called and had to attend. He spent the whole fortnight traipsing in and out of various courtrooms, and without exception knew every defendant, so had to pass a note to the judge each time advising him, and couldn’t sit on any case!

Perhaps you could make loads of citizens arrests in your spare time?

I have done jury service before, on the first day they took 50 people into court(it was a bit of a squeeze) to select the jury from and we were told that this case is likely to take a few months and so to go home now and consider if you can commit to that amount of time,come back tomorrow and the judge will listen to any excuses for exclusion. People who got off the next day included teachers, self employed, carers and golf course green keepers.
I got selected which I was quite happy about as it was better than being at work at the time and the case lasted just over 6 months.
Some people love it, others hate it but a lot depends on what case you get.

I’m intelligible in Scotland because of work

Strong accent? 😀

I was meant to do it in June, i told them I was too busy work wise and the company had no one else that could do my job. I got it deferred until March.

I’ll make it perfectly clear when I do go that it’s pointless me being there, as far as i’m concerned they’re guilty if they are there, and nothing will change my mind. Plus I’ll have a serious bad attitude when I’m there, hopefully they’ll send me home and I can have 2 weeks off.

I’ll make it perfectly clear when I do go that it’s pointless me being there, as far as i’m concerned they’re guilty if they are there, and nothing will change my mind. Plus I’ll have a serious bad attitude when I’m there, hopefully they’ll send me home and I can have 2 weeks off.

Best hope you’re never in the wrong place at the wrong time and the judge isn’t having a bad day and just picks the first 12 people with the same attitude.

Plus I’ll have a serious bad attitude when I’m there, hopefully they’ll send me home and I can have 2 weeks off.

Or you get jailed for contempt of court. Which would still be a nice holiday…

Getting stuck on a trial for 5 – 6 weeks would kill my business.

fraud trial at winchester went on for 18 months!

I’ll make it perfectly clear when I do go that it’s pointless me being there, as far as i’m concerned they’re guilty if they are there, and nothing will change my mind. Plus I’ll have a serious bad attitude when I’m there, hopefully they’ll send me home and I can have 2 weeks in jail to refine my attitude .

For those who want to “get out of it” would your reluctance be the same if the case related to a driver killing a cyclist/s would your view change?, after all these guys get away with it all the time apparently and i wonder if its because of the jury… or lack of competent ones anyway.

Jurys are a key stone of our justice system and a significant part of a democratic process .They bring fair minded common sense to trials and a particular joint expertise to weighing up facts and evidence.

Do those who object to Jury service wish to live in a society where guilt or innocence is decided by a paid state official or is it simply that they object to being asked to play their role in a public justice system ?

For those who want to “get out of it” would your reluctance be the same if the case related to a driver killing a cyclist/s would your view change?, after all these guys get away with it all the time apparently and i wonder if its because of the jury… or lack of competent ones anyway.

In a lot of the cases it is the sentence not the verdict that people object to, so being on the jury would make sod all difference.

I’m intelligible in Scotland because of work. In England this is not the case

Genuine LOL

I would suspect that thee are plenty of people out there who have good reasons not to do it but cannot be excused under the current rules.
I for one would be bankrupt but the rules didn’t make allowances for me. Civic duty aside we can’t go bust for the courts.
Certain medical conditions get you off, for example a nice polite letter stating that you need to pee every half hour or wet yourself will work.

Done it 2 years ago.

I wouldn’t play around and chance a fine. Contact the court directly and talk to clerks.
Judges don’t like being messed about…… they never told us what happened to one of our group….after being selected, given the chance to speak up (worm out of it) then being sworn in, he decided to change his mind. He was taken back into the court on his own, we never saw him again, the clerks refused to answer questions on what happened to him 🙂
The whole selection had to be redone again the following day wasting court/taxpayers money.

As i understood it, i could defer once and attended service at a later date.
Once you have served, if ever selected again, you can then decline to serve as you have served before.

Bit like being in a court drama on telly at times.
I was bagged for the normal 2 week period, company released me from work and refused to pay me (allowed) so i was covered for lost earnings by the court.

Did five days service, was then released from service.

“sod all difference eh”? nice view of our judicial system there…..

I also don’t entirely approve of the system as it is too democratic. There are people out there who are not fit to have say in the countries running. Professionals would be far more impartial.

I’m intelligible in Scotland because of work. In England this is not the case

Strong accent

Genuine LOL

My phone seems to have a sense of humour!