Who are these ALS Linguists, off the street?
27/04/12 Southwark Crown Court
Just to report a chat I had with a listing officer in charge of requesting interpeters from ALS. She used to book interpreters in the old system. She was very outspoken and said she was appalled at how bad the new system is. All she does is she requests interpreters for the languages needed. She never knows what their names are, who they are or if they are going to turn up.
She could not stop praising how easy and reliable the old system was, and this is in one of the main Crown Courts in the country. She said that the other day the court clerk complained that the Romanian interpreter in court was particularly bad and when the listing officer went to check in which tier he was, it was Tier 3.
She said that sometimes she had the impression that the intepreter "was picked up from the street". They arrive and ask "what shall I do now?". According to her, they have no idea, as if they have never been to a courtroom. My colleague and I were surprised at how outraged this official was.
How can it be allowed to go on?
[From a report sent to rpsi.name/default]
