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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to refuse to do Jury Service?

184 replies

Messyisthenewtidy · 17/05/2019 21:49

I've just received a summons and I'm freaking out. My employer pays up to 2 weeks but beyond that the expenses that you can claim are a pittance and I'll be in serious financial difficulties.

I'm a single mum so obviously the only earner. Can I reasonably refuse? Will they let me? What happens if it goes on for ages and I lose my job?

Please advise me! Has anyone managed to get out of it on the grounds of being the only wage earner?

OP posts:

LaurieFairyCake · 17/05/2019 22:57

I think the payments are only about £47 a day. I couldn't do it (self employed).

I also know you can just ignore it as they don't send them recorded.

78percentLindt · 17/05/2019 22:57

DS was called for the first week of the Uni exam period. They asked him to send the exam period notification info from the Uni website. Said they would call him during the summer holidays but he said he was doing an MA and needed to earn to support himself for the next year and appears to have been deferred indefinately.

Bluetrews25 · 17/05/2019 22:58

I've done it twice.
You don't have to stay beyond the 2 weeks - if there is going to be a long case, they ask who can stay for it, and if you can't then you don't do it.
You can claim subsistence expenses for every day you are there, on top of travel and loss of earnings. Keep all your travel receipts, they will just give you subsistence without receipts for food/drink.
I found it interesting and felt pleased to do my civic duty. I was happy to be in a jury that found a rapist guilty. And equally happy to be in a jury that found a man innocent of assault in a clearly fabricated case led by group of teenagers who were lying like a cheap rug.

mathanxiety · 17/05/2019 22:58

Don't freak out. They are reasonable.

Say you can't do anything over two weeks. You have adequate reasons.

Then serve a short trial if they assign you to one. YOur name won't come up again for a while.

I don't think the courts sit over Christmas so don't worry about that.
www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/the-justice-system/term-dates-and-sittings/term-dates/
Terms.

Fruitbatdancer · 17/05/2019 22:59

My dad has done it 3 times always short cases. Never over the 2 weeks. Sister did it for 3 weeks, and was specifically asked if she could do 3 weeks before they put her on case (she could no problem).
A work colleague got called and told was being put foreword/ selected for a major case 6 months plus, he was horrified! Wanted to get out of it, said 2 weeks blah blah needed at work big project etc they said sorry we know who you work for (large American based organisation) we know they pay full pay for jury service, and have plenty of people who can cover you, so sit down and pin your ears back
So I hope it gives you comfort that they really only do pick people for the long cases who they know are able to stick around without it causing them a financial issue!

mathanxiety · 17/05/2019 23:00

Save deferment for another time if you can do a short trial now.

Ivestoppedreadingthenews · 17/05/2019 23:20

Agreeing with everyone else, they ask if you can serve on a long case and won't force you to do over 2 weeks if you have a good reason, which you do. Don't panic.

ReanimatedSGB · 17/05/2019 23:20

I've done it twice. If they ever summon me again they will be told to fuck right off and bother someone else. The second time I was in the middle of a hugely demanding work project and got my manager to write and say they couldn't spare me (adding in the fact that I had already served as a juror a few years previously.)
Bastards wrote back saying, when will the project have finished, and made me come in and do my second session six months later.

I do appreciate, from an ethical point of view, the importance of having juries made up of 'ordinary people' but in practice I'm less of a fan. Most of the other jurors were either thickos or maniacs: the people who either have fuck all else to do or fancied themselves as stars of some John Grisham type film; quite a lot didn't have a clue about how the law works.

IHeartArya · 17/05/2019 23:25

That wasn’t my experience. I found everyone to understand the weight of what was being asked & to consider the evidence carefully. Certainly the people I did jury service with listened carefully. Maybe I was lucky but they certainly weren’t ‘thickos’

Sunhill4 · 17/05/2019 23:26

I was called up 22.5 years ago. I wrote them a long essay explaining i had a 7 month old baby still bf & would need ro take very complicated public transport journey & was let off.

VladmirsPoutine · 17/05/2019 23:29

Sorry but co-opting the AA excuse is just priceless!

On a more serious note - if the letters aren't recorded then they can't ever prove that you got it or indeed opened it. That said, I suppose it's predicated on people having a sense of civic moral duty.

frazzledasarock · 17/05/2019 23:31

I got called up for jury service a couple of years ago, having just had DC I simply replied that I had a newborn and was breastfeeding and couldn’t leave my child.

I was excused.

It would never worth replying that you are a single parent and unable to leave your (whatever she) child as there’s nobody to care for DC in your absence.

See what they respond.

frazzledasarock · 17/05/2019 23:32

It would be worth replying
And whatever age (not whatever she)

user764329056 · 17/05/2019 23:35

I was called for jury service when I was a single mum and didn’t have to do it due to being lone parent

nettie434 · 17/05/2019 23:39

I don’t think there’s any need to say you know the defendant or know about the case. Unless you are called for a big murder trial/fraud case, (where you would obviously explain your situation), as TwitterQueen1 says, it is really likely you will only be on trials for burglary etc lasting 1 or 2 days. A lot of it is waiting around so make sure you have something to listen to/watch/read.

Rangeloaf · 17/05/2019 23:41

Defer on the grounds you don’t have childcare and it will be accepted

OhYouBadBadKitten · 17/05/2019 23:41

Is it normal to have never been called? Neither do or I have.

ZippyBungleandGeorge · 17/05/2019 23:42

I used to work in court, they won't keep you longer than two weeks unless you specifically say you can do it. Court staff will now how long a trial is scheduled for.
My grandfather did a six week car at the old bailey, but he was already retired and enjoyed it. He took it very seriously and never did tell us what the case was about even after sentence. I've never been called and would love to do it.

stucknoue · 17/05/2019 23:46

My h just told them he couldn't get cover (university) and he could only do outside of term time, they never asked again, I've never been asked.

Weedsnseeds1 · 17/05/2019 23:46

I have done it three times.
1st occasion got a case that lasted a week and was excused after that. There was another trial that was projected to be 2 months, a whole bunch of us were called and the judge excused a head teacher at a special needs school, a young lad who was due to start his first job and had already had to delay the start to serve and a single mother, didn't excuse someone with a holiday booked
Second time was jury on a case that got dismissed, then excused after that
Third time, sat about for a week then got excused

Franklyyes · 17/05/2019 23:48

So many people want to get out of it .... but think ... if you were the one in court wanting a fair hearing .
Everyone fannying about. Wanting to get out of it 🙄
Last year OH did one week case and they then dismissed him as didn’t need him in 2nd week

VladmirsPoutine · 17/05/2019 23:51

Thing is, the people we do need on those juries: the single parents, the low-wage earners, the one's living pay-day to pay-day and so forth are the ones trying to get out of it. That in itself is rather worrying.

floraloctopus · 18/05/2019 00:01

Mine was deferred for twelve months, that was nearly 25 years ago and I've never been called again. I don't know if that was because I'd done it once before.

SageYourResoluteOracle · 18/05/2019 00:04

I've often worried about being called... I've got huge problems with anxiety in intense situations where I feel I cannot leave. It leads to me fainting. And if it was a case with gory details then I'd be useless. I'm being investigated for some kind of long term, chronic health condition and panic and anxiety along with needing to pee a lot and exhaustion (I sometimes completely zone out and struggle to concentrate at times too) is all part of it. Even though I've yet to get a diagnosis, would I have the grounds to be excused? I literally wouldn't be able to physically cope with it. I'm cross with myself as I know it's a civic duty but I just couldn't manage it.

Weedsnseeds1 · 18/05/2019 00:05

To be honest, in my experience, if those were a jury of my peers, I would be terrified if I ever got arrested.
Despite lots of guidance from the judge, there were countless "theories" thrown around, despite the evidence presented e.g. " well, I don't think he was in the Royal Albert Hall, on stage, even if 1000 people saw him there " ( not actual example, but lots of similar ) , "I think it was a drug deal gone wrong" ( no evidence of drugs at all), " he's only 18, I know he committed the murder, but I can't find him guilty, it'll ruin his whole life".

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