Jury service. A bit of a rant!
Earlier this month we received a letter addressed to my son (aged 18) requiring him to do jury service at the start of December.
We appealed on a number of grounds.
1) He is currently in his first term at university and this would impact his education.
2) His university is over 100 miles away
3) His university is in area which has a high Covid infection rate.
Our appeal was rejected.
I then rang them directly to again explain the situation, but was told he either had to attend (or face a summons and £1000 fine) or to change the date to some time in 2021 (which may or may not be accepted) In respect to Covid, they informed me, that my son should assume the Courts are open, but they would advise him of any changes with little or no notice.
Anyway, my son has decided to leave Uni two weeks early (we will collect him and his laundry) so he get home and do his duty (assuming of course they don’t cancel it). However I cannot help feeling that this a stupid for a number of reasons.
1) He is 18 - so not an idea candidate as a jury (in my view).
2) It will directly impact his studies, irrespective that he is paying rent for rooms he is unable to use. Plus he will miss the end of term party.
3) He will move from a high risk Convid zone to a low risk area, but will certainly not be social distancing.
I even offered to be his substitute because in 60 years neither me nor my wife have been selected for jury service, but alas not.
The only upside is that he will come home early and gain experience of British Courts/Legal system without being in the dock.
Still very annoying, but rant over.