There will be no further tests of the government’s emergency alert system (Picture: Reuters)
The government ‘won’t be interrupting people’s Sundays anymore’ after yesterday’s emergency alert test, and is confident it can fix the issues revealed by the trial.
At 3pm on April 23, mobile phones across the country blasted out a 10-second alarm and delivered a notification to screens alerting users to the test. The system is designed to warn people in the UK of major incidents in their area, such as fires, floods or other risks to life.
While some users reported they did not receive the alert despite having compatible devices – primarily smartphones or tablets on the 4G or 5G networks – the government said most intended recipients did receive it, but that it was aware of an issue with those on the Three network.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: ‘The purpose of the test was to discover and address issues. The vast majority did receive it, and there were no other significant problems. As far as we’re concerned, it was a success.
‘There’ll be no need to test it further, and we won’t be interrupting people’s Sundays again.’
After the alert, the Cabinet Office said it had launched a review into why some users did not receive the notification – or received it at the wrong time.
A statement on Twitter read: ‘We are aware that a very small proportion of mobile users on some networks did not receive it and will be looking at this as part of our review of the test.’
However, the review will not include a public test.
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‘We’re confident it will work next time,’ said the spokesperson, adding that for many people, ‘next time’ may be never.
‘It could be a number of years before people hear it again, and maybe never. The “immediate threat to life” threshold [required to trigger an alert] is set very high.’
Before the test, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden had said that the alarm would be ‘a bit inconvenient and annoying’, but added that it ‘could be the sound that saves your life’ in the future.
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