Jury Service - A Story Told

[arfur mo]

hi guys, no i've not been called up,

City Link driver dropped of kit, regular area man i know fairly well.,chatty sort of guy, should have been a cab driver or barber imo.

anyway, he mentioned about he got called up for dury service, i don't know if this is BS or not so thought i'd post it for verification.

just to mention these guys work self employed like many of us, so this could get devastating financially, something i've keep my fingers crossed against (just imagine me in a jury room OMG!).

this is from memory, so not claiming verbatim

he tuns up as requested (£1000 warrant if you don't apparently), signed in then aske's how long he is needed, gets told upto 21 days as said on back of form he signed. stunned, , he says "well i'm here today but not afterwards, unless you pay a stand in driver, my business costs like renting the van and a my mortgage, the condition should be on the front as that means i'm effectively volenteering, i will only return if the court pay his real costs estimated at £27000 for 3 weeks.

so argy bargy ensues back and forth stands his ground, demands eventually to see a court solicitor, he consults a judge who decides it is too expensive to retain him and releases him from further jury duty.

judge took at as otherwise he is effectively bankrupted by the court, but here's more, having signed in he is released from the attend order, and having filled in the form, signed it and the court accepting it, the court are obliged to pay all the normal expenses (£31 + £5 per day) all 3 weeks worth.

he reckons he got £800 for his lost day, plus the 3 weeks expenses, reckons he's had the cheque and paid it in.

not a clue if a fancyfull fairy tale or real fact, so anyone know for sure? if it works a good way to slip out of it if needed.

we could all be called up, i know that would do immense damage to me on £35 a day

Arfur

[SUBS]

Afaik, you can get out of it if your a mental case, otherwise your knackered.

I think you can under exceptional circs defer it if needed at work though.

[Guest Oxo]

£27000 for 3 weeks.

I`ll have some of that delivery driving!

If your selected your there simple as, many reasons can be used to not be called. Best is you know the accused family in some way. Another is intimidation.

Arf you would not pass selection as you would take more time to make a judgement than the rest of eternity has to run.

[norman]

I think your backs wet.

[Guest Oxo]

[quote name='CerbNI' date='23 June 2010 - 08:50 PM' timestamp='1277322601' post='242888'

Twelve Angry Men springs to mind!!!

Rofl

[Guest Oxo]

Dont keep on i`ll either spit my lemonade over the screen or follow thru laughing so much

[james.wilson]

my wife was called for jury service. pregnancy gets you out of it.

[IAS]

page 5, paragraph 11

Jurors may be excused for valid business reasons. Applications of this type should, however, be looked at closely and granted only if there would be unusual hardship. A small business is an example of a case where such hardship might be suffered, although each case must be considered on its individual merits. Paragraph 4 (above) applies

I imagine the court have the right to refuse an expenses claim

though when I heard the story the guy was a private consultant.

[A-G]

my wife was called for jury service. pregnancy gets you out of it.

seems a hell of a lot of trouble just to avoid jury service though

[arfur mo]

don't shoot the messenger,

he might be flowering it up who knows, but reckons he chanced on a loop hole.

i assume his claim is turnover based, + motgage = other expenses he would be in hardship if they insisted, those big long wheelbase sprinter vans cost a few bob i'd imagine.

often wondered how those jurors got on in the really big cases lasting several months, not like you can bring on a sub in the second half is it? can you imagine the effects a small business owner?

could be a financial disaster

Arfur