I HAVE recently completed a two week stint of Jury Service at York Crown Court, and it is now clear why the average cost of each trial is £50,000.

It is a very frustrating place to be - there is so much idle time, so much waiting about, so much repetition, so many interruptions, no sense of urgency or any apparent sense of time.

The resident staff are very friendly and helpful but sadly have to spend a lot of time apologising to the members of the jury.

Court is supposed to start at 10.30am and end at 4.30pm with a lunch break from 1pm until 2.15pm. We never started on time. On three days we never started at all.

On one day the van bringing the defendants broke down and arrived mega-late.

We had the judge throw out one case as "no case to answer" and six young lads suddenly at the last minute changed their plea to guilty - so no jury required!

On one day the session ended at 1.30pm because the judge had to catch a first class return train to London for a Judicial Review.

The jury room is well equipped with large tv, games, magazines, jig-saws and is very warm as the heating is always full on. Amazingly everything that is said in court is copied down in long hand using fountain pens. It appears as though the jury cannot memorise anything.

Allegedly some volunteer to do jury service again! It is an experience - albeit dated 1754 - but how can we improve and update the UK legal system?

The frustration and boredom are horrendous.

David Quarrie,

Lynden Way,

York.

Updated: 12:07 Monday, November 22, 2004