There were two official-looking envelopes on the mat when I returned from holiday in July 2006: one, a confirmation of the PGCE Mathematics details, scheduled to start in September 2006; the other, a Summons for Jury Service, scheduled to start in September 2006.
Reading through the Courts Service leaflet there is no escape from Jury Service. All people on the Electoral Role between the ages of 18 and 69 are eligible and, more, obliged to perform this Civic Duty when summoned. The only people ineligible for Service are criminals and the mentally ill. As I've neither been Sentenced nor Sectioned there was no escape.
I spent a frantic afternoon on the phone trying to establish the effect of me missing the beginning of my PGCE. Still unsure of what to do, I phoned the Courts Service: "You could defer for up to a year." With only seven days to respond to the Summons I posted off copies of my timetable for the year and a letter explaining that I had was unable to respond withing seven days as I had been on holiday when the Summons arrived. A week later I received a deferred date of August 13 2007.
I have looked forward to August 13th all year. I hoped to be involved in the case of rubbish burglars, or the obvious surveillance (I've got a post to add). But now, almost 12 months since receiving that date, interrupting what should be six weeks holiday before the start of my first full school year, after a week of phoning the Courts and being told to phone back tomorrow afternoon because I'm not needed, I've been discharged from the remainder of my Service, with only the briefest glimpse of a Courtroom.
Neil - has only been fitted up for a suit
