Magistrates Court Visit

Our second day here and we went and visited the Westminster Magistrates Court. We got to experience the continental breakfast that was not impressive, just the basics, toast, cereal, fruit, and a beverage. Another exciting part of our day was the first trip on the Tube. That was an experience in itself, the amounts of people riding and trying to squeeze in at the very last second before the door closes was pretty crazy. I was glad that we had Dr. Nobiling and Maria there to help us navigate that because I am positive that I would have gotten lost!
When we go to the Magistrates Court we went through security, where they confiscated my camera (to avoid pictures being taken while in there) and my perfume because apparently that can be dangerous. Our tour guide met us there and explained to us her experiences with the courts and was very knowledgeable. She explained to us about the Crown Courts and the Magistrates Court trying to tell us the differences. We were able to walk into the public gallery and watch the proceedings, they are kind of different from what we are accustomed to when it comes to court proceedings, The defendant went into a small box and sometimes was part of the public gallery before they entered. We only watched proceedings where their were Lay Magistrates, who are volunteers from the community and they would make a decision and the legal advisor would watch over the proceeding and review the ruling to make sure that it was legal. We did watch some warrants also be granted to police officers. The sentences were similar here, one man's driver's license was revoked for 18 months for "drink driving" on a first offense. But I feel that the Magistrates took the defendants personal situations into account when they returned their rulings.
It was a great experience just to see the difference between the courts here and the courts that we know as county courts. As we left we even got to use our "brollies" to avoid the rain.