To think there’s something a bit sinister about the Government Emergency Alert test on 7th September?

[ThisAmberSignal]

I know it’s being pitched as just a routine safety check, “nothing to worry about” but I can’t help but feel uneasy. Why now? Why the sudden push to roll this out and get everyone’s phones buzzing at the same time?
Is it really just a public safety measure or could there be something more going on here - surveillance, control, a soft rollout of something bigger?

AIBU to feel suspicious… or do others get the same vibe?

😂😂

This is just a test. The alarm is designed to alert you to an emergency, such as your local Tesco running out of tinfoil 🙄

I can't on mine. The option to do so is greyed out. Very old android phone.

It’s not sinister but I’ve opted out as I don’t care what they have to say about anything.

We got an alarm back in January before the massive storm hit. I'll be worried when I see tanks rolling up the street.

They used this all the time in the US, missing kids, severe weather, traffic jams, it's very localized. Alexa tells me when rain is due in my area but I'm sure some people are frightened of that too.

YABU. It's a test, switch your phone off it bothers you.

How stupid. They might need the alert in the event of a real emergency.

Absolutely standard procedure. Why wouldn’t you test it? It’s a really useful tool to know is working properly.

We had an emergency alert in Greece. It was a bit surreal as we were in a harbour full of harbour restaurants on a beautiful calm evening when everyone’s phone started sounding for severe weather. Within 2 1/2 hours there was flash flooding, mud slides, lightning strikes and boats breaking free of anchorages in an almighty storm. It was a very useful alert as people left the harbour to batten down, shops shut shutters, restaurants tied tables together etc.

I think most people think of these systems as things that deal with big nationwide alerts, but they can be localised. This is useful in extreme weather events.

It’s been used locally a handful of times already - mainly for severe storms / flooding and once to evacuate part of Plymouth when a huge bomb was found.

Personally I’d rather know if something extreme was going on where I live.

Can I ask why?

My husband's phone went off four times today; according to a text message they were operator alerts ahead of the test on Sunday. It was a PITA because the first couple of times, not expecting an alert today, I was walking round trying to find where the noise was coming from, then we thought to check mobiles ...

Why would you turn it off? Genuine question.

Personally I'd want to know if there was an emergency I needed to deal with.

Agreed

I was abroad the last time it happened which was April 23.

Even visitors to the UK will get the test alert as their phones are roaming on a UK network

It's turned off here. Same as last one (although I had to actually disable it again, it seems to have turned itself back on since the last one?)

Some people in DV situations have a secret phone.

Yeah. Turned mine off!

Why would you not want to know if there were, for example, floods in your area? More fool you for disabling it.

I agree. Mine is off, is this just phones or iPads too as will turn it off on that as well.

Are you on glue?

It was tested two years ago after being years in the making of putting it in place. They said then that it would be fully tested every two years. So expect another one in 2027

🙄

You don't care about floods, chemical leaks, bomb alerts, anything?

Any unsurviveable (sp) disaster then I'd rather not know.

Anything else I'll deal with. What's the alarm going to do other than cause panic and distress?

I get my weather from the BBC so hopefully they'll be able to tell me if London is going to flood / blow away (given many PP are saying they've only had the "real" alarm for weather warnings)

Does anyone remember the test sirons during the 1970s? Those were scarey, this was during the Cold War