Court Workers and Users Feeling the Heat at Westminster Magistrates' Court

Concerns have been raised about the stifling heat at Westminster Magistrates' Court, although trust me that this isn't exclusively a Westminster problem!

According to a report in the Evening Standard, a CPS prosecutor was taken ill yesterday after a morning of unbearable heat. The paper also reports that an ambulance was recently called for a defendant who collapsed in the dock, although it has not been confirmed that heat was the cause.

Courtroom temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius have led to lawyers threatening a walk out next Monday if nothing is done to cool the situation.

Andrew Lloyd, of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, likened the "appalling conditions" inside the court to "working in a greenhouse".

He said: "We've raised our concerns with management, but staff morale is already low - management has a duty of care to staff keeping our courts running and should have contingencies in place in case there are failures in the air conditioning units."

Portable air conditioning units have previously been deployed in courtrooms, but these are currently banned due to concerns that recirculated air could spread coronavirus.

A source told the Evening Standard the glass-fronted design of the building, which opened in 2011, means court users are regularly forced to cope with soaring temperatures.

"We have had weeks of hell", they said.

"It's like a glass box, it's always too hot, and the air con is not working.

"You can't have a situation where people are working in 33 degree heat."

In 2017 a defendant at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Rafal Sochacki, collapsed and died after spending 5 hours in a cell on one of the hottest days of the year.

An inquest ruled that his death was likely to be due to excessive heat, which was exacerbated by a failure of the air conditioning system.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said that the current problems, first reported on Monday, have now been resolved.

"The air conditioning is fixed and water has always been available to those attending court," they said.

Meanwhile, in less salubrious surroundings elsewhere on the HMCTS estate, we can only dream of air conditioning units or even conventional fans.

Conditions were such earlier this week that jackets were removed, collars unbuttoned and doors propped open to ensure an adequate flow of air around the courtroom.

I could see the usher slowly melting away as she desperately wafted herself with the court list.