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Greg Evans
Apr 23, 2023
Emergency alert test goes off at Wembley Stadium ahead of FA Cup …
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The majority of phones in the UK have received an emergency alert from the UK government as part of a nationwide test, the first of its kind to ever happen and its caused quite a bit of confusion.
The test is part of a new public alert system for emergencies and new deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden had alread denied the testing of a new emergency national alert system on Sunday was an example of so-called nanny statism.
After the criticism was put to him on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mr Dowden said: “I wouldn’t accept that characterisation.
“If you look at countries around the world, whether it is the United States, Canada, Japan and elsewhere, they have emergency alerts on phones as another tool in the toolkit of keeping people alerted during an emergency.”
Mr Dowden said the test of the system was a “bit like when the fire alarm goes off at work”.
He said: “It can be a bit inconvenient and annoying.
“I think, in future, people will be grateful that we tested the system and what I would say is that at 3pm, when this siren — which I should say is about the volume of a phone call going off — goes off, you don’t need to do anything.
“It is just a test.”
Regardless if it is a test or not and how serious we should all take it, the internet couldn't help having some fun with it, even before it went off.
\u201cthe uk waiting for the emergency alert\ntoday:\u201d— ed (@ed) 1682241677
\u201cEveryone at 3pm today #emergencyalert #emergencyalertuk\u201d— Deano (@Deano) 1682235408
\u201cMe when the emergency alert goes off..\u201d— JustRandomThoughts (@JustRandomThoughts) 1682242243
\u201cMe: I\u2019m not interested in this emergency alert, I\u2019ll just switch it off\n\nAlso me at 14:59: \n\n#EmergencyAlert\u201d— MB (@MB) 1682235027
\u201cBREAKING: Sheridan Smith is set to star in an itv drama based on the 3pm government emergency alert. she will be playing the alert.\u201d— \ud835\udc46\ud835\udc3c\ud835\udc34\ud835\udc41 \ud835\udc47\ud835\udc3b\ud835\udc4c\ud835\udc40\ud835\udc38\ud835\udc46 \ud83e\udd42 (@\ud835\udc46\ud835\udc3c\ud835\udc34\ud835\udc41 \ud835\udc47\ud835\udc3b\ud835\udc4c\ud835\udc40\ud835\udc38\ud835\udc46 \ud83e\udd42) 1682256031
\u201cHave heard U2 has snuck an entire album into todays emergency alert test.\u201d— Matthew Highton (@Matthew Highton) 1682243298
\u201cThe whole of England waiting for the 3pm alert #emergencyalert\u201d— Shirley Carter\u2019s Pussy (@Shirley Carter\u2019s Pussy) 1682240901
\u201cMe when the alert came through at 2:59pm and not 3pm \n\n#EmergencyAlert\u201d— MB (@MB) 1682258408
\u201cChecking every two minutes to see if it\u2019s nearly national emergency alert time \u201d— Harrison Brocklehurst (@Harrison Brocklehurst) 1682257687
Some people also had fun with the score between Newcastle and Tottenham which was happening at the same time.
\u201cWhen I get a notification at 3pm thinking it\u2019s the emergency alert but it\u2019s \u201c Newcastle [3] - [0] Spurs \u201c\u201d— . (@.) 1682200460
\u201cBring forward that emergency alert\u201d— Adam Hurrey (@Adam Hurrey) 1682255983
\u201cDidn't realise the Government emergency alert at 3pm was going to be about the Spurs score.\u201d— Richard Osman (@Richard Osman) 1682257684
\u201cThe UK government sent out \u201cSevere Emergency Alert\u201d texts to every mobile phone in the country but there was a genuine emergency unfolding in the North East as Tottenham conceded 5 in the opening 21 minutes at St James Park on their way to an embarrassing 6-1 defeat.\u201d— HLTCO (@HLTCO) 1682261572
Then it actually went off...cue the memes.
\u201cme just now: #emergencyalert\u201d— s \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff (@s \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff) 1682258427
\u201cMe receiving the emergency alert message sent by the government:\u201d— Steven Bonaventure x (@Steven Bonaventure x) 1682258381
\u201cAs so many of my ex-girlfriends said in the past, \u2018Was that it?\u2019\u201d— Cai Ross (@Cai Ross) 1682258472
\u201cGreat, first I didn't get an #emergencyalert and now my neighbours are banging about and there's some weird plants outside\u201d— HappyToast\u2605 (@HappyToast\u2605) 1682258857
\u201coh dear god\u201d— Mollie Goodfellow (@Mollie Goodfellow) 1682258547
\u201cMy first thought when the emergency alarm went off:\n\u201d— The Second Tier (@The Second Tier) 1682258799
\u201cdid anyone know anything about this??\u201d— Aidan James (@Aidan James) 1682259988
\u201cCan\u2019t stop thinking about the emergency alert\u201d— JustRandomThoughts (@JustRandomThoughts) 1682260465
\u201cThe uk when there's an actual emergency alert because we never take stuff seriously #EmergencyAlert \u201d— ames (@ames) 1682259418
\u201cthe uk government sending the emergency alert a minute early\u201d— swirly \u2625 (@swirly \u2625) 1682258712
\u201c"We've known about this alarm for weeks, who's gonna get a fright?" \n\nMe when the alarm went off a minute early\n\n#emergencyalert\u201d— Laura Buchanan (@Laura Buchanan) 1682258857
\u201cThe Emergency Alert ruining everyone\u2019s Sunday \u26a0\ufe0f\ud83d\ude31 \n\nwuu2\u201d— Fred Asquith (@Fred Asquith) 1682258833
\u201cthe whole of the uk when the #emergencyalert went off at 2:59pm rather than 3pm\u201d— jackson barb (@jackson barb) 1682258764
But in a twist, not for everybody.
\u201cNo emergency alert on my slimline white telephone with automatic redial\u201d— Joe Mander (@Joe Mander) 1682258538
\u201ci didn\u2019t get the uk government emergency alert.\u201d— tweets by cian\u2122 (@tweets by cian\u2122) 1682258602
\u201c15:04 and still no emergency alert\u201d— ed (@ed) 1682258711
\u201cMy emergency alert didn't come so I guess I'm the first one to die during a nuclear war\u201d— SHANE REACTION (@SHANE REACTION) 1682258676
This is a much better sound than the one millions of people got.
\u201cWould of been so much better if the alert was a rick roll or something #emergencyalert\u201d— Tom (@Tom) 1682258514
As you can see from the BBC's coverage, not everyone was that bothered.
\u201cBBC News:\n\u201cLet\u2019s go now to our live shots of people around the country receiving the alert\u201d\n\nGreat British public:\n*milling about not really bothered*\n#emergencyalert\u201d— Alex Watson (@Alex Watson) 1682258924
Additional reporting from PA.
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