Another testing of National Alert

[MollyButton]

AIBU to ask if people are aware: Apparently there is another test of the national Alert system happening in September. It’s crucial that people are aware it will happen especially those with some disabilities or in DV situations.
https://www.itv.com/news/2025-07-07/emergency-alert-to-hit-mobile-phones-in-national-test-heres-what-to-expect?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLZMCVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHiAMlc8Hi8ZwEEpQytAAAehtyAe2NI34brKfl6iK0bVHV_C09yg-CR3DXf8f_aem_Z9muBhLduhdVxHRtvfwqYw

they will probably just be seen as collateral damage like last time

The belief of people in tech post Horizon scandal is mind boggling

You can switch the alert off, so if you have a secret phone that is what you need to do. Or have a basic non smart phone.

How do other countries cope? Why do we seem to be the ones that go into panic mode when other countries have had this technology for years. Also if you are worried about control and access to your phones you wouldn’t have a smart phone anyway!

That's not what gaslighting means. The alert did not cause phones to stop working altogether. Just because you read it in the press, doesn't mean it's true.

@crumblingschools there was a similar test a couple of years ago in the US. The tinfoil-hat brigade were screeching that it was a special signal that was going to activate the 5G nanoparticles that were in the covid vaccine and kill everyone.

@GasperyJacquesRoberts at least posters on here aren't saying that!

It’s an alarm though, just like receiving a call. Not a national accounting system.

Flash flooding and wildfires are the main likely reasons that you would get an alert!

It’s there to save lives…. And with climate breakdown it’s needed!

And yet no one died!!!!

Conspiracy theorists are literally bonkers…. believing that 5G fries your brain (which it doesn’t) whilst simultaneously disbelieving in science including climate change!

I think it’s a good idea
and hopefully just a better way of getting the message out there for floods than the current environment agency system, where you only get them if you’re registered and in the area you are registered in. We had a flash flood in a very small geographical area last year and I got the EA warning with just enough time to move car and livestock

Hopefully it will be on TV because I don't have a mobile phone. Interesting about warning disabled people though. I can't use a mobile phone, cannot hold one and cannot text.

After surgery I can still touch type - or buy a new keyboard - remember the passwords I haven't saved, and done without a mobile since they came out.

No GPS to find me either!

I wonder if each area still has a nuclear alert siren or if this phone alert system replaces it? I worked part-time in a village shop in the 1970s and they had a siren in there.

Broadmoor Hospital used to test their alarm at 10am every Monday, but they don't do that now as everyone in the area is alerted by phone when a patient escapes.

natural disters, drone strikes from russia or nuclear attack - they are predicting russia will attack another european country within the next few years and that we are very much under prepared. So i think its part of getting prepared.

How often is that?

What, how often do patients escape? The last escape was in 1993.

But prisoner do escape from mainstream prisons, its probably around one a year on average so the warning could be used for that.

But if people want to know more about the scenarios in which it could be used and how likely these are considered to be, its all in the national risk register.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67b5f85732b2aab18314bbe4/National_Risk_Register_2025.pdf

My grandmother used to live very close to broadmoor and that siren was one of the most exciting things about going to stay with them 🤣

Bit sad they don’t do it any more!

I was at a SEN play session last time, and they ended the session in advance and made us get out not to frighten the children. My phone alerted me 10 minutes later, in the car, but only with the screen alert and no sound!

I recently received a big pack of school curriculum materials at work. They were all focused on UK weather disasters and how to plan, prep, and react. I can’t remember the name of the body that sent it now, and Google isn’t being helpful, but the general vibe was that the UK is expected to see more serious weather incidents in future and we ought to be more concerned and prepared. I would imagine the alerts are connected to this type of incident planning.

I agree! I had an uncle who lived in Crowthorne and I remember staying with him once in the late 1970s and wondering what on earth the noise was on a Monday morning!

His DW told me there was quite a strict protocol in place for when someone did escape, for example none of the children could be let out of school until they were collected by one of their nominated adults. Nobody was ever unduly worried though because logic told them that any escapee would try to get as far away from the area as soon as possible.

I think it would have been the Met office.

weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn-about/met-office-for-schools/themes-for-11-14/resources-11-14/exploring-extreme-weather-events-activity#:~:text=In%20this%20activity%2C%20young%20people,example%20of%20extreme%20weather%20event.

As long as you don’t want to be involved in any subsequent emergency planning /evacuation that may follow on if you opt out of any advance notification to enable action that you could take.

the last one we received alerted to flooding and we were able to put out sand bags etc. the previous one was on holidays to let us know wildfires were heading towards the resort.

I’ll continue to be “controlled” although I prefer to call it “informed”

Thank goodness. I thought it was a regular occurrence.

If I'm going to die in a nuclear war I'd prefer not to know about.
The so called establishment are more than welcome to spend the rest of their lives in a bunker, with a load of people as 💩 as them.
I'd rather go in the initial blast thank you very much.
I'd go so far as to say it's perverse to warn people they are about to die.

Fortunately not! I watched a tv documentary recently on Broadmoor Hospital. It was very interesting!