Gaz Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 I have jury duty tomorrow at our local Sheriff Court. Is it just me or is the whole system really old fashioned? I've phoned the helpline this evening and listened to the pre recorded message which says I've to make myself available at 9am in case they phone me. But I won't know until then if I'm needed or not. My work starts at half eight... so what, do I go into work (40 minutes away) to potentially be told that I need to go to the Sheriff Court that's 5 minutes away from my house? And if I'm not picked, I need to do it all over again on Tuesday, and Wednesday... for how long? Surely there must be a better system than this. I'm lucky my employer is understanding, what about folk who aren't as lucky as me, or are self employed? This system must utterly screw them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Can't you get it off if you're a teacher? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted October 23, 2022 Author Share Posted October 23, 2022 9 minutes ago, Miguel Sanchez said: Can't you get it off if you're a teacher? We thought so but the application was refused 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Connolly Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted October 23, 2022 Author Share Posted October 23, 2022 3 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said: I don't actually mind doing it, just the system that decides whether or not I do seems absolutely mental. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Gaz said: I have jury duty tomorrow at our local Sheriff Court. Is it just me or is the whole system really old fashioned? I've phoned the helpline this evening and listened to the pre recorded message which says I've to make myself available at 9am in case they phone me. But I won't know until then if I'm needed or not. My work starts at half eight... so what, do I go into work (40 minutes away) to potentially be told that I need to go to the Sheriff Court that's 5 minutes away from my house? And if I'm not picked, I need to do it all over again on Tuesday, and Wednesday... for how long? Surely there must be a better system than this. I'm lucky my employer is understanding, what about folk who aren't as lucky as me, or are self employed? This system must utterly screw them. You need to keep calling at 5pm. Eventually you get a message saying your service is over. I was lucky: the first time I called, I got the not needed message. Almost certainly if you aren’t needed after your second call, you won’t be needed at all. edit: I was quite happy to do it. But in reality it can become a burden. Edited October 23, 2022 by Savage Henry 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falcor Roar Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 I went through this exactly 2 weeks ago and as you say it's a farce. The letter says to turn up, the phone line says don't turn up. I was called at 10am on Monday asking if I was free to go into the ballot as they had a trial. I explained that my son is only one year old and Montrose to Dundee is quite a commute to get back for nursery ending. They said well, it's up to you but the timings should be ok. I said fine and agreed as long as I wasn't kept past 4:30. They didn't ring back so obviously I didn't get drawn. If there was more cases in the week they might have called Tuesday or Wednesday but that wasn't likely apparently. You could say you couldn't get childcare and that would be that if you don't want to do it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Got called twice last year. Both times my work wrote a letter for me saying I was far too important and would they mind if I was excused? Thankfully they did not mind and I was indeed excused both times. Glad I was, as I don't want to ever do it. I would get far too riled up at it all and of course there's always the risk of being involved in a particularly horrendous case. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Dufresne Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 I did it years ago and it was horrible,it was a child sexual abuse case.Went through 7 days of prosecution evidence only for the case to be dismissed due to an error by the prosecution. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 It’s a shit system and will stay a shit system because there is zero incentive for those who run it to make it any better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inanimate Carbon Rod Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 I much prefer giving evidence to a sheriff who will make a decent judgement, jury decisions are utterly batshit sometimes. Suppose the nice thing is i’ll never be called to jury duty. I know a few people who’ve been before and enjoyed it, but personally think the courts system is in desperate need of reform, the waste and cost is unreal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aim Here Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Gaz said: I have jury duty tomorrow at our local Sheriff Court. Is it just me or is the whole system really old fashioned? I've phoned the helpline this evening and listened to the pre recorded message which says I've to make myself available at 9am in case they phone me. But I won't know until then if I'm needed or not. My work starts at half eight... so what, do I go into work (40 minutes away) to potentially be told that I need to go to the Sheriff Court that's 5 minutes away from my house? And if I'm not picked, I need to do it all over again on Tuesday, and Wednesday... for how long? Surely there must be a better system than this. I'm lucky my employer is understanding, what about folk who aren't as lucky as me, or are self employed? This system must utterly screw them. I'd be less worried about it. I got chosen for Jury Duty recently, made myself available and accidentally didn't take the phone call (innocently! I had to leave the house, took my phone outside and after I got back, left it in my jacket pocket, where I couldn't hear it ring. I'm not generally glued to the rotten thing, unlike far too many folks so I routinely forget about it). After phoning the court after-hours in a panic, I found out that they don't care too much, they just go on to the next potential juror (I was actuallty slightly disappointed, since I'm kindof curious about what goes on in a courtroom). I imagine if they have problems concocting a jury out of the pool they have, they'll get tetchy and start issuing summonses and the like, but if you can't take their phone call, they're usually not going to care too much. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmouth Strikes Again Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 (edited) You've got to wait until they phone you the day before, was quite keen on doing it, then when got picked couldn't be bothered with it, free sandwiches and beverages and was at the cinema in Douglas, but was glad to be booted off the subbies bench, was a guy accused of battering his girlfriend. Edited October 24, 2022 by Bigmouth Strikes Again 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermik Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Just don’t go. If you are lucky, you might win a fortnights free room and board at the local councils expense and a guaranteed new job cutting keys and fixing up old shoes at a Timpsons near you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Tunbridge Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 If you can afford to take days off your work unpaid jury duty can be class. In a previous employment that I wasn’t a fan of I got jury duty citation for the Sheriff court told my work and was marked as off all week but if I didn’t get picked I was to come in. Went the first day name didn’t get picked in the ballot didn’t bother going to work after it, phoned the number every night the rest of the week and wasn’t required but no chance I was telling my work that and just took 4 days off. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 4 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said: I much prefer giving evidence to a sheriff who will make a decent judgement, jury decisions are utterly batshit sometimes. Suppose the nice thing is i’ll never be called to jury duty. I know a few people who’ve been before and enjoyed it, but personally think the courts system is in desperate need of reform, the waste and cost is unreal. What you say is partly true and I agree with you. The problem is, like many a thing in life, they will never ask those at the actual coalface to comment on the system whether that be the junior defence agent, the lowly prosecutor or the clerk of court who has to shovel shit and is the worst paid of the lot what they think should be improved Instead it will be senior managers, advocates and Judges who will be consulted and who will usually say "Everything's fine, nothing to see here" Incidentally you may consider that if you asked people in China, Russia or Iran whether they would prefer their guilt or innocence to be determined by a Judge or a randomly selected group of 15 people they are likely to choose the Jury option 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyAnchor Posted October 23, 2022 Share Posted October 23, 2022 Guilty AF 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diegomarahenry Posted October 24, 2022 Share Posted October 24, 2022 I had to attend Ayr sheriff court for jury duty, we were all put in to a room at 10 am, someone came in and said they would give the name of the victim and the accused, if anyone knew either, they had to go to a different room to find out if they were to be excused or not. They said the name of the accused, a murmur of "ohho f**k" went round and about a third of the room stood up and left. The majority filtered back through one by one looking gutted and concerned. Someone involved in the case was taken ill and we were sent away to come back at 1pm. We went back at 1 and sat till 2. They sent us home and told us to come back the following day. Went back the following day at 10, sat till half 11 and they said the person was still in hospital and we were excused. Total waste of two days. Turns out it was a local hard man from Auchinleck that was up for robbery and assault. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishBhoy Posted October 24, 2022 Share Posted October 24, 2022 8 hours ago, Gaz said: I have jury duty tomorrow at our local Sheriff Court. Is it just me or is the whole system really old fashioned? I've phoned the helpline this evening and listened to the pre recorded message which says I've to make myself available at 9am in case they phone me. But I won't know until then if I'm needed or not. My work starts at half eight... so what, do I go into work (40 minutes away) to potentially be told that I need to go to the Sheriff Court that's 5 minutes away from my house? And if I'm not picked, I need to do it all over again on Tuesday, and Wednesday... for how long? Surely there must be a better system than this. I'm lucky my employer is understanding, what about folk who aren't as lucky as me, or are self employed? This system must utterly screw them. I got a jury citation sometime during August, and binned the letter without replying. I’m a contractor who doesn’t get paid for days off so wouldn’t be willing to go an unknown number of days without pay. A few weeks back I got another letter this time from the clerk of the court saying that they still haven’t had a response from me as well as threatening a £1000 fine. The letters come along with the regular post so it’s not as if they are signed for or a special delivery, so they have no way of knowing if I’ve actually received the letters or not. The £1000 fine they threaten you with must surely just be a scare tactic to get people to reply because there’s no way they can prove any of their letters ever even arrived at my door. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted October 24, 2022 Share Posted October 24, 2022 Coppers probably did it tbf. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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