UK Emergency Alert System
On 23 February 2024, the system's first non-test alert was sent to residents of Plymouth advising them to evacuate an area of the city due to the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb in the back garden of a property.
An earlier 2012 report ("Extended Floodline Warnings Direct Trial") by the Cabinet Office using mobile phone calls found that only 12% of recipients acknowledged the alert.
"[8] In 2019 and early 2020, the Environment Agency collaborated with EE, Fujitsu and the University of Hull to trial Cell Broadcasting technologies for the purpose of flood warning.
[9][10] On 24 March 2020, the government collaborated with all UK mobile networks to send a text message to inform people of the new lockdown rules.
The alert system will be used to warn the public in the event of incidents such as fires, flooding, extreme weather conditions and terrorist attacks.
[25] On the day of its launch, the UK Government confirmed plans to conduct a national test of the system at 3 pm on 23 April 2023.
[32][33] Speaking on the morning of 23 April, Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, said that people would not need to take any action because of the test alert, while the consumer organisation Which?
issued a statement ahead of the alert to warn people of potential scams: "Events like this can be a magnet for scammers looking to take advantage of the confusion.
[39] Three said it was aware some of its mobile users had not received the alert: "We are working closely with the government to understand why and ensure it doesn't happen when the system is in use.
"[40] The Cabinet Office said it would review the outcome of the test and that it was aware a "very small proportion of mobile users on some networks did not receive it".
[42] Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons that autocorrect had been to blame for the error, but that the "essence of the message remained unchanged".
[44] On 18 July 2023, Roger Hargreaves, director of Cobra, suggested to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that the emergency alert system should be tested every two years to ensure the technology is working.
Residents in Plymouth, Devon were advised to evacuate part of the city, upon discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb in a back garden in Keyham.
[46][47] On 6 December 2024 at 19:00, the system was used to alert around three million people living in Wales and South West England of a potential danger to life as Storm Darragh approached the UK.
