Hundreds of north-east people were told to travel more than 100 miles to Inverness for jury duty after a clerical error by the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.
A total of 250 letters were sent to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire residents compelling them to attend the remote jury centre inside the Vue cinema at Inverness Retail Park on May 9.
The jury citation, which also urged the recipients to use public transport for the journey if possible, warned a fine of £1,000 could be imposed if they failed to turn up.
The SCTS said the letters were actually meant to tell the potential jurors to turn up to their local remote jury centre, at the Vue cinema in Aberdeen.
The letter read: “You have been selected for jury service. You may be required to attend over several days…If you fail to attend you may be liable to a fine of up to £1,000”.
Retiring Aberdeenshire councillor Ian Mollison was among those affected by the mistake.
He said: “It did strike me as being rather strange.
“That would be most unfair to expect that of anyone.”
Before the mix up was fixed, Mr Mollison feared having to endure more than seven hours a day on public transport for an unknown period of time.
Student Vanessa Walker, 23, from Milltimber, also received the citation.
She said: “I immediately thought, how am I going to get to Inverness? I’ve got to be there for 10am when it starts.
“That’s setting off at 6am if I were to use public transport. It could go on for weeks and that’s a lot of money in travel. It’s just really inconvenient.”
But the student was relieved to learn that a new letter has now been sent out, correcting the issue.
A spokesperson for the SCTS said: “Jurors cited for Inverness High Court on May 9 had in error been advised the location for attendance would be Inverness Remote Jury Centre instead of Aberdeen Remote Jury Centre.
“Remedial action was taken and a letter issued to all jurors on April 13 advising any required attendance would be at Aberdeen Remote Jury Centre.”
Extra courts are operating across Scotland as part of a Covid recovery programme designed to clear the backlog of cases caused by the pandemic.
Trials which require juries are video-linked to remote jury centres based at cinemas across the country.
Jurors are able to see and hear proceedings live as the evidence is being presented in court.
The virtual measure came in after concerns were raised over figures which revealed a drastic drop in trials calling across the north and north-east.
