ALS fails to provide interpreters for Bradford Crown Court
I attended Bradford Crown Court today and spoke to a female police officer who had been there since Monday, 26th March. She informed me that yesterday 3 Punjabi interpreters booked by ALS failed to appear. This morning, Wednesday 28th March, a Czech interpreter did not arrive and a Polish interpreter booked for 12 o'clock to interpret for a Polish witness in the JD case did not materialise (I was then called to interpret for the witness and accepted this booking as I believed at the time that Witness Care still use solely registered interpreters).
She also told me that whenever police officers try to call ALS they are kept on hold "for ages" and are generally very dissatisfied with the new system. A lady from Witness Care told me she made a complaint to the judge and the court manager about ALS's Polish interpreter not turning up.
