I've been summoned to do Jury Service in May. Anyone got any helpful hints/tips ?   Only other time i was in court, i was a defendant   many years ago.                                                                                                                                                                             

Take a good book to read as you could spend all your time in the waiting room if not plcked i done it about 18 months ago got on a murder trial was good exsperiance                                                                                                                                                                               

I did Jury service a few years ago. I don't remember much waiting  around. Basically, a case came up, 12 people were selcted. If you wer'nt one of the 12, you got sent home and told when to return. Fortunately for me the case I was on only lasted 3 or 4 days. I feel sorry for the people who are on a case that lasts for months.                                                                                                                                                                             

  Jury service usually lasts for up to 10 working days - but can be longer.   Many trials last only 2 or 3 days, so you may be on a jury for another trial.   Taking time off work   Give a copy of the letter confirming your jury service to your employer. Your employer must let you have time off work - however, they can ask you to delay your jury service if your absence will have a serious effect on business. Wages during jury service Your employer doesn’t have to pay you but you can claim for loss of earnings from the court. Your employer must fill out a Certificate of Loss of Earnings which you get with the letter confirming your jury service. You then send it as part of your claim for expenses once you’ve completed jury service. Problems with your employer You can complain to an employment tribunal if you’re unreasonably refused time off for jury service. If you’re sacked because you do jury service you may be able to claim unfair dismissal. However, if your employer asks you to delay jury service and you refuse, you may not be able to claim unfair dismissal.   For full info follow the link  https://www.gov.uk/jury-service                                                                                                                                                                               

Always wanted to do it but have never been summoned lol                                                                                                                                                                             

if youve been a "defendent" in the past thats your get out clause if you dont want to do it.......and believe me a week of sittin about you'll wish you'd not bothered                                                                                                                                                                             

did it many years ago, BORING! I started 4 cases in the 2 weeks, 3 ended within the day (2 being thrown out by the judge for lack of evidence and 1 because the defendant changed his plea to guilty), one lasted for 2 days before the judge threw that out for lack of evidence too, total farce!
Funniest part was on day one all the rest of the jury turned up in suits but after taking one look at me lounging around in my leathers and jeans they all turned up the following day in their casual gear, not often I'm a trend setter!                                                                                                                                                                             

  LOL Cent                                                                                                                                                                             

thankyou sandi your Honour   Cheers to the style ICON also                                                                                                                                                                              

  PML @ 'your Honour' and @ 'style icon' Cent                                                                                                                                                                              

like you BJ ive always felt a bit "miffed" that i aint been called up!!! not sure i would want to sit through all the details of a horrible crime tho ......   so il stay away and let others do the jury service   the only bit i do know is you aint allowed to talk about it......  or read papers etc if a big one incase you get a biased bt maybe untrue view pushed at ya....   i guess only vote guilty if you really know they are bt then defence lawyers are soooo good my mate used to wrok at solicitors and they alwas got peeps off of really bad stuff they had done ..... then the solicitors went home adn did a few lines of coca cola (aka coke!) and champers etc... hmmmm justice.. yeah right... (of course not all solicitors are like that...)!                                                                                                                                                                             

I must be the unlucky one here then, i'v been called up for jury service 5 times, yes, 5 times, the last one was 3 years ago.

You get called up for 2 weeks and it's pot luck as to what you'll experience. I had 2 weeks of nothing once, not even called into the court room, then another time i was in court every day for 2 weeks on various trials. I did find it a good experience but if your sitting around it's very boring so, take a good book or a few newspapers.

Sandi has given some good points above, also once you have done jury service you can refuse if you are called up within 2 years of the last time you sat as a juror, but that is the "only" time you are allowed to refuse to do jury service.

Hope you have a good and interesting 2 weeks VFR                                                                                                                                                                             

Take a good book, LOT'S of change for the Coffee Machine, they give you a voucher for your lunch... 

Take your Mobile phone, laptop / iPad etc... there is usually WiFi in the room provided by BT.

Wear comfortable clothing.. you can be sitting around all day long... 

I spent all two weeks in the canteen / jury waiting area and the closest I got was lining up to go into the Court when the Defendant changed his plea to GUILTY... never even saw the inside of the Court Room... 

                                                                                                                                                                             

VFR depending on what your erm past was lol, as kwakgirl says it's your get out of it free card, erm i was told that by erm a friend lol. personally i cant think of to much more i'd hate to do, wrote a long detailed letter elaborating on a mis spent youth got a letter back seems i'm not eligible, Yesssssssssssssssssssss result.

1st week of Jury service done.................Never been so excited in my life.     Played Scrabble............. Connect 4................. cards...........   A guiness every lunctime over the road..............   Yup  no court action for me....   met loads of nice people though.   Here's hoping for something next week        On the up side  though, managed to get down the Bassets Pole Tuesday instead of nightshifts.      Hi to those of you I saw.