Portsmouth Combined Court Centre — Local services in Portsmouth

Jury service I was advised to park at the Crasswell Tesco carpark which charged £6.20 a day for parking as this was the most they would reimburse per day. I then walked through the shopping centre, passed the Guildhall, left at the library, over a small bridge and the court was at the bottom of the pathway on the left. This took me 10 minutes, but I do walk quite fast. As you go in you're greeted by security, where you will have to empty the entire contents of your handbag and anything in your pockets into a tray , remove your coat and remove any belts or watches ect before you walk through the metal detector, so not to set it off. You can't take any glass or anything sharp in with you and will be asked to take a sip of any drinks that you have bought with you. Once you've done that there's a stair well in front of you and behind that on the right is the door that leads you to the juror lounge which is signed, so very easy to find. The lounge has plenty of chairs, a TV, magazines, toilets, lockers, plenty of places to charge any phones, laptops ect. The WiFi was good, I had no problems with it once I got connected. There is a canteen upstairs from the lounge which has a hot drinks despenser, this is not free! You can pay with card or cash. If you wish to have lunch at the canteen you must fill in a form every morning with what you want and this will ready for you at lunch time which is usually 1pm. You get 2 drinks of your choice cold or hot(tokens will given for the hot drinks despenser ), snacks and a choice of either a sandwich, Roll, or wrap (several fillings offered) and hot options are jacket potato will filling or sausage roll, chips and beans, which is the equivalent of the £5.70 lunch allowance you get per day. You can add preferences and any dietary requirements. The food is pretty simple but it fills a hole. If you don't want to eat at the canteen you can bring your own food and claim back your daily allowance after your service, or you can go out at lunch time and collect the money from the office on your way out. Please note on the day of deliberation you can't leave the deliberation room and must either bring your lunch with you or have pre ordered lunch from the canteen (no hot food). Once in court you do get plenty of breaks to use the loo and you can take a bottled drink into court with you. A usual day started at 10 and finished at 4-4:30, apart from the first day which started at 9. Usually jury service lasts up to 2 weeks, but I was called up on my first day and only ended up doing 4 days. Some people I spoke to weren't so lucky and had been sitting around for days, so make sure you bring something to keep yourself occupied. Despite the loss of wages my experience was good and everyone I met was really nice. I also found the facilities were always clean and felt well...

I was called for 2-week Jury Duty in Portsmouth. Here's what I would have liked to have read in advance: Security at the entrance is just like at airports.. empty all your pockets, be prepared to taste the fluids you bring in in bottles, it's very busy on Mondays Jury waiting room.. it's a big room (full on some days) they will give you food and drink to the value of £5.71 (or you can bring in your own stuff and claim the £5.71) the catering staff are very helpful. I recommend just enjoy their food. Travel expenses they pay up to £4 for parking (Portsmouth Park & ride is exactly £4) The Jury waiting room.. there are many chairs, some magazines, books, games, communal TV. Power points to recharge your gadgets. I recommend you bring your own reading material. Will you definitely serve on a jury? I think based on my experience it's only 50-50%! For each trial, 15 people are selected at random (even if 12 people are needed so that barristers can look at you and and reject a few of you). On the day, the accused on each trial can plead guilty - then there is no need for a Jury at all! In my case, about 5 trials pleaded guilty- no jury needed. About 5 trials were held.. and jury members were selected without me. So although I was very happy to do my duty, it was a huge waste of my time as I was...

The only people in this whole pit of a court that do their job properly is the security guards... The place smells bad, is never clean l, facilities are disgusting, when I told them I was in hospital following an accident I got told they didn't care and that I still needed to attend court, the judges are rude and mentally challenged due to the fact they don't listen to you and make irassional decisions out of some made up rubbish I'm their head, no times of opening/closing, no parking, the time they tell you is wrong and end up waiting 4 hours... Iv been in prisons that work better and are cleaner that this black hole... It doesn't even...