How often have you been called for Jury Service?

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I've never been called, neither has DH, but DS has just received his second notice, having first served less than 2.5 years ago. He's only 23 now.

He'll do his duty, but is quite disruptive for him in his early career. Whilst you'd hope the employer understands it's not his fault, they still don't like it.

Why do some people get called repeatedly and others not at all?

You can refuse if you've already served in the previous 2 years, but he's just over

I was called 4 times in 5 years before I applied for a mental health exemption. I don't think they allow them anymore, but I've not been called up since.

Been called twice but was excused the first time as dd would have been 3 weeks old.

Twice. I've just deferred it as it came at an impossible te for me as I would have had to cancel contracts I've already been paid for. I'm self employed.

I have to do it in November and I hope I actually get on a jury this time. I don't have much faith in the jury system after some of the comments I heard last time though!

Twice - once at around 18/19, and again last year (aged 55), so has 35+ year gap in between. I did both but it was inconvenient and expensive as I'm self employed but have a limited company so could only claim back the minimum wage bit, not lost profits.

As said upthread I did jury service at the Old Bailey and based on my experience the system serves us well, but it was 42 years ago.

Ah no, scratch that - I didn't claim anything at all as I still paid myself from the company!

It is, until after. He told us after it was in the papers.

I am now permanently excused, but I was called 3 times in 3 years before that went through. The first 2 excusals were only valid for 12 months.

I've been called twice, once in 2000 and then again in about 2013. DH was called once but I managed to get him out of it!

Ah ok

Never, I'm early 30s. Dh been called once and wasn't required

I've been called once, earlier this year. I am 62. My husband's never been called. As far as I can recall, my parents never were either. My daughter was called once and got it deferred, because it would have clashed with university exams, and she's never been called again. My son's not been called yet either.

You get called up for a minimum ten working days, i.e. two weeks Mon-Fri, but you are warned from the start you could be there for longer. I was at a very busy Crown Court. On the first day we were briefed that 140 of us had been called because a 10 week trial was due to start and they knew not everybody could do that. About half the new jurors were randomly selected and had to fill in a questionnaire to assist the judge in deciding who genuinely couldn't do ten weeks on a jury. Out of the people left in consideration, about 18 were then randomly selected and sent up to the courtroom. At this point you are told the name of the defendant and the witnesses and you have to declare if you know any of them because then you'd be ineligible to sit on that trial. They then select 12 names from the eligible people and that's that.

I was sent up as a panel of 15 for another trial and didn't get selected for that one. I did get selected later that week for a trial that took most of the remaining days. We were told at the end that we must never disclose the details of our deliberations but we could now speak about the case. Quite how you disentangle the two, I'm not sure.

One of my fellow jurors had done it three times before, which seemed extraordinary. Only one other person had done it before.

It was a very interesting experience and I'd be happy to do it again. I am retired from work now so well placed for this, compared with many.

My dad and brother have both been called. Brother was excused. I would love to do it, I did a law degree many years ago and was on the jury for a mock trial. It's quite worrying the logic people use to find someone guilty. And this was a jury full of law students who were fully aware of the burden of proof needed to convict!

Once

Twice, I'm 44. Have been on a jury once.

Called once in the very early 1990s but was excused as the date fell right in the middle of my finals. Never called again. MIL was called years ago and the case lasted many weeks. It was a major case and the jurors had to cope with exposure to large amounts of distressing detail (including explicit photos, CCTV clips, witness testimony etc). All the jurors were excused any further jury duty as an acknowledgment of the extremely traumatic details they had to witness.

Three times! Roughly every 10 years from 19, never since. Got on a jury each time and loved it. But I'm totally fascinated by the legal process. DH never.

Never. My parents, cousins, aunt and uncle have never been either
In fact I don't know anyone that has

I have recently been called up for the sixth time. Had two exemptions in the last 14 months, one due to work and another due to a pre-booked holiday. They are bloody determined to get me again, so I've just accepted it this time. Going in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that gets it out the way for a while. My parents have never been called up.

The fact some people have never been called and some multiple times shows how random it is.

I’ve done it once when I was 19. It was a horrific case. The judge excused us for 10 years (he said he would have excused for life, but they couldn’t do that then) and thankfully I’ve never been called up.

i found the way we were subjected to seeing and hearing the most horrific things week after week (the trial I was on lasted 12 weeks) and then told “thanks very much, bye” without any ongoing support absolutely horrendous. I do hope they deal with cases like that much better now.

Wish I knew, it’s been three times in past 6 years for me. DS went through a phase of being called several times but he was a full time student and got let off.

Once, about two years ago. I didn't attend as was unwell at the time, so had a doctor's note to be excused. I was told I would be called again in the future, but nothing since.

I am 66 so I have been eligible for 48.5 years (yikes!)

Definitely once. Possibly twice - I have the same first name as my father and when I was living at home a summons arrived. In the end it didn't matter because it was under the old rules and I was ineligible and he was entitled to be excused.

I have 3 siblings. None of us (or our husbands/wives) have ever been called. We are all in our 50s, 60s and 70s.

Our parents were never called. Nor were my husband's parents.

My daughters haven't been called either, but the boyfriend of one was called last year at the age of 22!