Hendon Magistrates' 'Struggles' with ALS
I'm in Hendon Magistrates' today (it was pre-booked), the Usher told me that they are struggling with this new system as the police stopped booking interpreters and when they call ALS they cannot provide them. Custody cases had to be adjourned, she recalled one Italian case in particular when the defendant had to stay in custody for over a week, his hearing was adjourned twice as no interpreter was available. There were also two Romanian defendants here today without an interpreter, the solicitor could hardly communicate with them they were nearly refused bail because they could not answer to the court how long they'd been living at their current address. Will someone ever listen to us??
