Jury duty

[MillsAndBalloons]

Looking for some advice please.

I've been cited for jury duty very soon. It is for a Monday, at a local sheriff court.

I am looking at booking a weekend away with my family and literally the only time my husband can take off is the Friday to Monday that falls on this date! The citation says that I've to call on the Sunday night to see if I am needed the following day - I hate the thought of not going away for a break and then not having to do the jury duty anyway.

I wasn't sure if I could go ahead and book the break and be excused. I thought surely this is only the case if it was booked before the citation came through?

Has anybody in Scotland ever bumped off jury duty and not been fined?!

Aibu to book a weekend away and try get an excusal. What is the likelihood of this happening?

Thanks in advance

You wouldnt be excused but you can ask for a deferral if you've got a holiday booked but you'd need to show proof of your booking being made before your citation.

You cant just not bother going because it doesnt suit you. I've known of cases where the court have sent Police out to missing jurors homes to get them.

Is it worth risking the possible £1000 fine?

Well, that's what I was asking, not sure the reply had to be quite so patronising though.

We have had a very hard time as a family recently and haven't been away for a long time. I just didn't want to miss the opportunity for the sake of maybe getting called and maybe not. I suppose if I knew for definite either way, it would be different.

I'm happy to do jury duty any other time.

It is probably worth asking if you can defer it OP- they might say yes and move it to another time.

Jury citations aren't sent recorded, book your holiday and if anything comes of it, you never got the letter.

Was just coming to say this - I’ve been told by someone who works for the courts that so long as you haven’t acknowledged the letter there’s no proof you received it.

If it’s your first Monday you will definitely be needed as you’ll have some kind of induction form filling in session.

Ive just finished 2 weeks of it and was only needed on 2 days (didn’t step into a court) but I didn’t have much notice of the days I wasn’t needed ahead.

What if everyone did this?

Here is what the Scottish courts website says. You should go ahead and apply and at least that way you will know where you stand.

Apply for an excusal
If you wish to apply for excusal due to another special reason, for example commitments at work, cancellation of which would cause abnormal inconvenience either to yourself or others, or holiday plans which would be difficult or expensive to rearrange, you should complete the relevant sections of the application.
You must also provide evidence to support your request, for example a holiday booking confirmation or letter from your employer.
Applications for excusals are dealt with sympathetically by the courts, however, it must be understood that in some circumstances, the court may not be able to excuse individuals.

Out of curiosity, what would happen if you contacted them shortly before to say you had covid?

Could you not just go away Fri - Sun evening?

Attitudes like this are all that is wrong with the world. What is everyone did this FFS?

You have to provide a medical certificate.

Yes - why not just do this?

Yet another thread by somebody wanting to get out of jury service.

OP it’s your civic duty. If you were wrongly accused of a crime you would want a trial by your peers. Everyone agrees with democracy and right to a fair trial etc but doesn’t seem to want to play their own part in it

If it wasn’t sent by signed for delivery then there’s no legal proof it was delivered. They might send. Second letter but again, if not signed for no proof it was delivered.

From my experience of Glasgow Sheriff Court, you are dealing with human beings and if you explain the situation they will defer your jury duty.

MillsAndBalloons · Today 19:55
Well, that's what I was asking, not sure the reply had to be quite so patronising though.

@Kinneddar ’s post wasn’t patronising at all. What is the point in your ‘thanks in advance’ if you are rude to people who have actually bothered to reply to you!?

Not necessarily.
My ds was told to phone Sunday night to then be told not to attend the following morning but that they could phone him Monday between 2pm and 4pm if he is def needed the Tuesday. If not then call as usual Monday night.

I know someone that has never replied to a Jury Citation and nothing has ever come of it. It's a chance you take i guess.

My reply wasn't patronising. If I'd known you were going to be so rude I wouldn't have bothered replying to you

@iamyourequal Thank you 😊

You were completely patronising

I did jury duty a few weeks ago (also Scotland). It has changed a lot since pre-covid.

I was told to phone on the Sunday night, but the message was there on the Friday - clearly, they record it before going home for the weekend.

The message said not to go in, but they may phone me on the Monday morning. On the Monday morning, they phoned to check if I would be available for a jury starting that afternoon, if I was selected - that would have been the point I could have given excuses I think.

They didn't expect me to be able to turn up at a moments notice, there were people who needed to travel over an hour to get to the court.

I wasn't selected, and had to repeat the process the next day.

So, if you could get back at a reasonable time on Monday if the message tells you to, I think you would be safe enough.

This is really helpful information, thanks so much for this 🫶🏼

Where? I explained how the system works which is what you were asking about 🤷‍♂️

You could do what I did and shove the letter in your desk drawer at work and then completely forget about it because you were stressed with a house move?
Never heard anything more.

I'm in Scotland (Glasgow) and more often than not, they're quite reasonable if you give some notice that you're unavailable. Our house went through a period where all 3 of us were getting letters around the same time during some major job transitions and we were able to defer multiple times no problem. My other issue is that the compensation doesn't come close to the loss of wages which we couldn't afford at the time.

The reality is, they send out way more summons than they need and it's rare bordering on practically unheard of that people get in trouble - in Scotland anyway. It's up to you if you'd rather risk ignoring it than risk your request to determine being refused.