Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
just don't turn up. half the people never do and it's an empty threat you will be fined
Jury Service
- Thread starter quonker
- Start date
just don't turn up. half the people never do and it's an empty threat you will be fined
A guy at work spent the entire 2 weeks sat in a room doing nothing. Just because you get picked doesn't mean you actually get picked for the jury itself. Totally pointless lol. I think they summon more people than they need, because they know people don't show. So don't show 
Unless they cover all your wages plus travel/expenses, **** em. Especially if you have to go somewhere like Luton (as he did, because they closed his local courts). I'd pay £1000 to not go there.
Unless they cover all your wages plus travel/expenses, **** em. Especially if you have to go somewhere like Luton (as he did, because they closed his local courts). I'd pay £1000 to not go there.
Last edited:
A guy at work spent the entire 2 weeks sat in a room doing nothing. Just because you get picked doesn't mean you actually get picked for the jury itself. Totally pointless lol. I think they summon more people than they need, because they know people don't show. So don't show
Unless they cover all your wages plus travel/expenses, **** em. Especially if you have to go somewhere like Luton (as he did, because they closed his local courts). I'd pay £1000 to not go there.
Indeed a friend of mine just took his laptop every day and played games to relive the boredom.
This is really dumb advice, Judge Andrew Menary disagrees with you.
He did refuse to show 5 times though..........and even refused to turn up to his contempt of court hearing so yeah no wonder the judge had had enough by then.
Based on the fact that 50% of jurors dont turn up or file an excuse each year, I dont see 180,000 being fined every year. However, you only need one judge to get angry especially if there arent enough who do turn up that day that trials have to be postponed for them to make an example of the none shows
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40946653
that was the case i referred to. one of the jurors used to work where i do. turned out to be a nightmare of a case.
oh 1 judge fined someone who didn't turn up 5 times. i've been called several times and attended twice. half the folk didn't bother and nothing was done on both occasions.
the article you quoted even mentions the fact half the folk don't bother and search for excuses to use online. just do the same find an excuse and send it in.
that was the case i referred to. one of the jurors used to work where i do. turned out to be a nightmare of a case.
oh 1 judge fined someone who didn't turn up 5 times. i've been called several times and attended twice. half the folk didn't bother and nothing was done on both occasions.
the article you quoted even mentions the fact half the folk don't bother and search for excuses to use online. just do the same find an excuse and send it in.
You said that half the people never turn up, hinting that it’s perfectly fine to do that.
It may be the case that 50% submit an excuse and get out of it but that’s very different from just not turning up.
I’ve said it before, I don’t understand why so many people are so vehemently against it. I’d be quite happy to do it again.
It may be the case that 50% submit an excuse and get out of it but that’s very different from just not turning up.
I’ve said it before, I don’t understand why so many people are so vehemently against it. I’d be quite happy to do it again.
A friend of mine has been a barrister for over twenty years so I thought he might have a better idea of the procedure.
The immediate question before the first answer here is
"If people just don't turn up, does it get followed up on?"
So I say again.
The immediate question before the first answer here is
"If people just don't turn up, does it get followed up on?"
So I say again.
This is really dumb advice.
I was called some twenty odd years back, and as a self employed London Black Cab driver, I took a letter to the court from my accountant, claiming that my per diem was £XX, this was a tad less than my real per diem as I oh so slightly massaged my cash income for HMRC.
I can’t remember what the max allowable was then, but it was definitely less than the amount that my accountant had said I earned daily.
None of this mattered, because I’d pay a paltry sum to park my taxi near the court, do my jury time, then go out to earn a day’s living with the taxi when the judicial day ended.
On a separate tangent, a case that I was on involved a homeless guy who’d allegedly stolen some books from Hatchards in Piccadilly, then threatened security with a used hypodermic needle.
The witnesses evidence was overpoweringly convincing, and the guy’s brief couldn’t shake any of the witnesses.
In the jury room, as most of us were agreeing that the case was proved, one middle aged man said, “I’ll go with whatever you say, but hurry up, I’ve got to meet my wife for a drink!”
one of the more silly comments, almost up there with "just don't go".
We live in a society where as one of the basic principles we have the right to to be tried by a jury of our "peers" for anything serious, in return we have to be willing to run what is generally a low risk of being called in to be on a jury that is deciding on the guilt of someone else.
Personally I find that a good exchange, especially for certain crimes where you might technically have broken the law or skirted very close to it in a grey area, but he circumstances around it are such that you have a good common sense type defence.
Any instance of self defence is a good example, where your peers are very likely to give you a massive amount of leeway even if the amount of force used initially seems over the top.
I've only known a few people who have served on juries, but they've generally said it was worthwhile, and interesting.
Last edited:
Mine was sent by recorded delivery so they'd have known whether it was delivered.
Clearly that could be difficult to dispute. I've not known a jury summons to be sent recorded however. Wonder if that is the norm these days ...
It was a long time ago, I don't remember the exact year but I think it was the early 2000s.
As was mine, back in December 2015.
My wife got a summons last year and it was regular mail. Judge got annoyed at the people not turning up and there was talk of him summoning them and fines threatened but not sure if that was ever followed through.
My wife and fellow jurers did stage a mini revolt though - after finding a defendant guilty which was going to result in substantial prison time, his family were hanging around just outside the court and the ushers tried to shoo them out the door into where the family were waiting. They all refused and waited for a back entrance to be made available with some police hanging around just in case!