Jury Service and its associated benefits.

By the time the majority of you will read this, I shall be in bed, farting, snoring and in a semi-comatose state of oblivion. And I've been here for ages because I don't have to roll out of my pit for a while yet.

I'm currently enjoying a happy period of not actually having to get up and go to work because I'm on Jury Service in Manchester.

And it's a massive doddle.

We rock up at 10:30, sit round for a bit, then eventually get called into Court at about half one.

Then we sit there for a couple of hours listening to some fat bloke in a wig tell obvious lies for a bit and then His Honour decides he can't take much more and he sends us home.

And the best bit is we're getting paid our full salary (plus generous expenses) for doing it!

It's fantastic.

Anybody else done it?

Never done Jury service but I have given evidence in court a number of times on behalf of the Town Hall in the past.

It's so inefficient like you say and wasteful of money that it is criminal itself.

One example and of course I can't go into detail was someone who described himself as a BRITISH Asian who was caught in the act of doing something illegal by myself and the police, who spoke English fluently, asked for and of course was given a translator.  Everything had to be translated back and forth which effectively doubled the length of the case in the County Court.  

In the end he was found guilty and was imprisoned but the cost of doing so far outweighed the financial cost (but not I must stress the social cost) involved of doing so.  Clearly the defence ploy was to try and make it so expensive compared to the crime involved that the Council would drop the prosecution.

There's a lot to be set about British justice but there's a lot of abuse made from it too.

Enjoy your lay in!

I've got to be careful what I say now (obviously) but we're in a very similar boat. Translating what's being said is taking the bulk of the time, but everybody in the courtroom knows that it's going in first time.

It's a bit frustrating but I keep thinking "it's better than going to work."

CLINK! That's another can opening because the Judge has adjourned us 'til Monday and I get another lie in.

Something I don't fancy doing, wife did her bit about 10yrs ago, wouldn't tell me anything about the trial. 

Is there a age limit to it and do you have to have no convctions, to serve on a jury?

I believe age limit is 70.

I wouldn't worry though it will all be Sharia Law soon anyway!

I've never done jury service, but what happens, if your self employed and you earn a lot of money?

For instance, say you earn around £2k a week, from being self employed, will you get this money back if you have to complete jury service?

Culcheth_White wrote:I've never done jury service, but what happens, if your self employed and you earn a lot of money?

For instance, say you earn around £2k a week, from being self employed, will you get this money back if you have to complete jury service?

You have to fill in a form declaring your earnings whether you are self employed or not. If the company you work for wont pay you then you are paid out of central funds. The same applies if you are self employed. The only exception is accountants who are notorious for cooking the books.

The most you can claim is about £160 a day, but it all depends on how long the trial lasts and whether or not the judge says you have to go to work on the days you're not in court.

You get £5.70 food allowance which you can bank if you take butties and they refund your travel expenses. (But they don't pay for car parking.)