Severe Alert from the UK Government

[Mattplans]

I just got it again. Absolutely no need for either of them. I'm not sure it was intentional, but they've pretty much got one more shot in my book before I switch it off.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Aug 2026 ==

I had one alert on data/4G. I know from the test some years ago that it won't/can't work on WIFI.

I received the alert on my old iphone that has no SIM and I'm a bit curious about how that works. It is connected to WiFi so I don't see another way.

 

[Bikeman78]

Haha that made me giggle!

I would have thought it would have been in both English and Welsh.

I had the English translation about five minutes later.

 

[Cambrian359]

I’m quite baffled how bent out of shape people are over this, even more baffled that so many claim to be turning the alerts off now…..I mean we’ve averaged 1 alert a year since its launch where I live, is that really such a huge irritation and great inconvenience for people?
Given how many people have lost their homes in the last couple of days in the UK alone it seemed like quite an appropriate thing to do to get people’s attention and hopefully take the situation seriously.
Many of us may not have a wildfire on our doorstep but perhaps have recently or possibly will soon! We’ve had several where I live within 5 miles of the town.
It’s the summer holidays, there’s a lot of moving around at the moment of the general population so it’s a good things to inform and educate all, particularly as some people are being complete a..holes towards authority when holidaying in areas that have already banned anything that can cause or reignite a fire.
One last note… the fire service is stretched beyond belief in many areas now,resources are being sent cross country to assist the worst affected areas but there are only so many fire engines and firefighters to go round so if we don’t get an ease up in fires we really are going to end up in situations where they have to decide between saving one street or another….

 

[Bikeman78]

A misuse of the system IMO.

It should be reserved for something as serious as "there's a wildfire approaching your home, get out now"

Using it for general warnings like this will just trigger lots of people googling how to disable the alerts.

My only surprise is that it's taken three years for a warning of questionable value to be issued.

 

[Harpo]

I had the English translation about five minutes later.

Me too. Five minutes of bewilderment in between.

 

[peri]

For the older members :-

Bend over, put your head between your legs
and kiss your arse goodbye.

Protect and Survive.

 

[najaB]

A lot of people I know are incredibly sceptical of Andy Burnham and how he was just shuffled into Number 10. We've not seen anything of any substance from him apart from a lot of PR spin.

That applies to five of our last seven Prime Ministers so I think that's just how we do it now.

Someone wil have to take the flak for the mis-use of the alert system.

Personally, I consider a situation where dozens of wildfires are burning around the country and many houses and businesses have been destroyed by fire as alert-worthy.

 

[Bikeman78]

A misuse of the system IMO.

It should be reserved for something as serious as "there's a wildfire approaching your home, get out now"

Using it for general warnings like this will just trigger lots of people googling how to disable the alerts.

Agreed. I saw two fires on my drive home yesterday. One would have to be living in a cave for several weeks not to realise that we've had no rain and there are fires all over the place. This alert would be useful if there were a fire near my home and heading towards it.

 

[Yew]

Agreed. I saw two fires on my drive home yesterday. One would have to be living in a cave for several weeks not to realise that we've had no rain and there are fires all over the place.

Unfortunately, anecdotes don't make evidence. And the evidence certainly doesn't substantiate the more hyperbolic claims by some posters here.

 

[najaB]

One would have to be living in a cave for several weeks not to realise that we've had no rain and there are fires all over the place.

Yet people were still buying disposable barbeques and lighting campfires.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Personally, I consider a situation where dozens of wildfires are burning around the country and many houses and businesses have been destroyed by fire as alert-worthy.

I consider it a mis-use because to me during extreme heat and little rain not starting fires on moors feels like common sense.
If one happened I'd know pretty quickly anyway given how quickly this thread popped up and the fact the rest of my family got them, if something was actually serious they'd tell me.

And if I was sleeping when it went off I'd be more than just annoyed, I can only imagine night/early shift workers' opinions on it.

 

[Darandio]

If one happened I'd know pretty quickly anyway given how quickly this thread popped up and the fact the rest of my family got them, if something was actually serious they'd tell me.

So you want family members to get them but not yourself? Isn't that the whole point in being able to turn them off?

 

[AlterEgo]

There wouldn't be a single person on this thread who, if the PM had made a special address on BBC or done a whole load of press tomorrow morning, would complain that "this should really be an emergency alert".

 

[Bikeman78]

Yet people were still buying disposable barbeques and lighting campfires.

Perhaps they are trying to light up their caves? Ironically it seems there was a fire two miles from me yesterday. I just found out about it from a Facebook link that someone forwarded me!

 

[Hadders]

Is that the Marvin Gaye Prom? I'm enjoying that on the radio!

It is indeed and very good it was too!

Outside of the system tests this is only the 2nd of these alerts I’ve received.
The first was that unexploded bomb that was found in Plymouth a few years ago. I was en-route to Penzance so that was fair enough.

Then we get today’s alert. I don’t believe it’s a misuse. My view is there’s a real need to get the key message out to the wider population as fast as possible. Traditional methods work for people like us but we’re not really representative of the wider population. The wider population doesn’t engage with traditional media in the way that we do - they don’t read newspapers, they don’t watch TV news, they use social media but that’s really just an echo chamber of people they follow and can’t be relied on to deliver a serious, important message.

Whilst it is a bit of a sheep dip, it’s a decent way to get an important, and to be honest urgent message out to as many people as fast as possible.

 

[Egg Centric]

I had the English translation about five minutes later.

This is also nuts - the ideal would be bilingual annoucements or concurrent ones in both languages, but if whatever reason they have to be ordered then the only sensible one to send out first is English. If this were a nuclear attack or whatever you might be talking about thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Which also goes to underline how pathetic this warning was compared to what it ought to be used for.

 

[najaB]

I consider it a mis-use because to me during extreme heat and little rain not starting fires on moors feels like common sense.

I admire your faith in humanity.

This is also nuts - the ideal would be bilingual annoucements or concurrent ones in both languages, but if whatever reason they have to be ordered then the only sensible one to send out first is English. If this were a nuclear attack or whatever you might be talking about thousands of unnecessary deaths.

Keep in mind that this might well be a limitation of the system in that both messages may have been triggered simultaneously, but took time to process. I know that when they did the initial test of the system there was a significant delay (a few minutes, IIRC) between when my phones on the Three and EE networks received the messages.

 

[Egg Centric]

Then we get today’s alert. I don’t believe it’s a misuse. My view is there’s a real need to get the key message out to the wider population as fast as possible. Traditional methods work for people like us but we’re not really representative of the wider population. The wider population doesn’t engage with traditional media in the way that we do - they don’t read newspapers, they don’t watch TV news, they use social media but that’s really just an echo chamber of people they follow and can’t be relied on to deliver a serious, important message.

Whilst it is a bit of a sheep dip, it’s a decent way to get an important, and to be honest urgent message out to as many people as fast as possible.

Can you rank the severity/urgency of this message compared to other ones that ought to have been got out to "as many people as fast as possible" in the last few years?

 

[urbophile]

It isn't something you have to know right this second. Sending a normal text message that you could read at your convenience would be sufficient.

It freaked me out. Most people with phones will have heard abut the BBQ ban through social media, or the news. Everyone will be aware of the extreme heat and dried vegetation . So only a total idiot is going to be lighting a portable barbecue on dry grassland... granted, there are plenty of total idiots but most of them are quite capable of ignoring government messages, even in the form of emergency alerts, especially if they don't see flames outside their window. It's a sort of crying 'wolf' situation.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

So you want family members to get them but not yourself? Isn't that the whole point in being able to turn them off?

I don't care if they have them on or not, if news is important it'll get to me when it matters, being told common sense fire tips is not important.
I just don't want them to have the ability to decide I'm not allowed to sleep by blaring a loud noise from my phone, which is always right by my bed.

 

[Egg Centric]

Keep in mind that this might well be a limitation of the system in that both messages may have been triggered simultaneously, but took time to process. I know that when they did the initial test of the system there was a significant delay (a few minutes, IIRC) between when my phones on the Three and EE networks received the messages.

This may well be true, yup. Although it would suggest a poor implementation, this would hardly be shocking.

We certainly shouldn't *slow down* the Welsh version if the current implementation means it arrives quicker, obviously.

 

[Mattplans]

The government have the option of sending a silent alert or SMS. There was nothing about this message that made it so severe it needed to be sent out in this manner, and in doing so the government has undermined the value of these alerts amongst the population which will inevitably lead to people disabling them.

I think people will, quite reasonably, take the view that they wouldn't want to risk being disturbed by such a message in the future, especially as it's not really a "life-threatening emergency", which is the type of situation https://www.gov.uk/alerts said the alerts would be used for. I know if there's a similarly trivial alert in the near future, I will be disabling the feature.

Proportionality is important

 

[Darandio]

I just don't want them to have the ability to decide I'm not allowed to sleep by blaring a loud noise from my phone, which is always right by my bed.

You decide that.

 

[Hadders]

Can you rank the severity/urgency of this message compared to other ones that ought to have been got out to "as many people as fast as possible" in the last few years?

No I can’t and I’m not even going to try to.

We might have to agree to disagree about the importance of today’s message. I’d rather we didn’t end up with a Bordeaux situation. Is it common sense to avoid fires and BBQs this weekend, of course it is. But many people lack common sense - that is why the message has been sent.

 

[Djgr]

Well I for one was very pleased to receive the alert but perhaps this is because I have relatives living in Stourbridge and can appreciate the real and increasing
dangers that are resulting from climate change.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

You decide that.

Yes I know, and that is why I have turned them off, because I don't want someone in the goverment saying "people are forgetting common sense lets make everyone's phones be really loud", even now I'm still hearing people saying their phone is going off and it's well into the night now.

 

[Egg Centric]

No I can’t and I’m not even going to try to.

We might have to agree to disagree about the importance of today’s message. I’d rather we didn’t end up with a Bordeaux situation. Is it common sense to avoid fires and BBQs this weekend, of course it is. But many people lack common sense - that is why the message has been sent.

Am happy to agree to disagree about the importance of today's message, what I'm trying to tease out is whether that's where our disagreement is (I'm not sure it is - I agree it is an important message) or whether it's the importance threshold that these messages need to meet before being sent out (I think that's where our disagreement is, actually). As @urbophile put it earlier, it's the "boy that cried wolf" effect I'm concerned about.

 

[Cdd89]

This may well be true, yup. Although it would suggest a poor implementation, this would hardly be shocking.

We certainly shouldn't *slow down* the Welsh version if the current implementation means it arrives quicker, obviously.

My suspicion is that the English version was sent to all subscribers, and the Welsh version was additionally sent to a subset. As opposed to what might be implied above, whereby an English version was sent to everywhere except Wales, and an English (separately) and Welsh version was sent to Wales. This would make sense as otherwise you could have edge cases where people on or crossing the border fail to receive any message.

If my suspicion is correct, and if there is evidence that the Welsh messages slowed down receipt of the English one in Wales by clogging up delivery in that region, then I would argue we very much should slow down the Welsh message until delivery of the English messages are broadly completed and the government can be confident the Welsh messages won't be adding to the backlog. Your original point was very valid, except that 'thousands' may well be an underestimate in the wrong circumstances.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Defo don't think its a misuse. People who think that - have you seen the devastation caused in Stourbridge? Or the fires in South Wales that are threatening house that have required the military being brought in? Clearly people cant just use common sense.

 

[Trackman]

I remember earlier today on the BBC news website that the government will be sending out an emergency message out later, anyway about five hours later.... must have been urgent!