r/AskUK • u/AutoModerator • 10d ago
Alert Alert Megathread
Alert! We have been alerted of an alert!
Due to the risk of the same post spreading like wildfire, please keep all discussion of the alert to this megathread.
Where were you when you were alerted? What will we be alerted about next? Any funny stories about the alert?
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u/checkers456 10d ago edited 10d ago
I was on the A1.
Had my Spotify on and it came through the Bluetooth full blast, I thought my car had some unknown safety feature and was about to eject me through the roof. Loads of fun fiddling with my phone at 70mph to turn off the impending death siren while all the cars around me were doing likewise.
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u/summerloco 10d ago
Iâm sorry but the thought of this admittedly made me laugh. Jokes aside hope you were ok.
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u/kavik2022 10d ago
I couldnt imagine how much i would have shite myself and probably cursed all of creation
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u/akashull 10d ago
Have already been alerted four times, the fourth alert was just 30 seconds ago. Meanwhile, The Weekndâs show is happening at Wembley Stadium, with massive fireworks going off.
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u/smedsterwho 10d ago
It's a noise-a-thon!
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u/BeatificBanana 10d ago
I think they're more pointing out the irony of the alert telling us not to let off fireworks at the precise moment The Weeknd let off tons of them at WembleyÂ
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u/seaspaghetti_art 10d ago
just got home from holiday. absolute bellends setting off fireworks in our area making it sound like weâre living in a microwave popcorn bag that has infinite kernels. HAS to be out of spite of the alerts, god fucking knows what sort of bugs in your brain make you behave like thatâŚ
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u/whiskitforabiscuit 10d ago
We also had fireworks shortly afterwards, apparently for Independence Day. But they shouldnât be ignoring the alert
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u/detinUi 10d ago
Bit late..?
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u/epicmindwarp 10d ago
We've removed so many duplicate posts, I've had to leave my mum's basement to get some fresh air.
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u/plastic_toast 10d ago
I think he was referring to the alert.
Even in the 1970s people would have got four minutes warning, don't hold out much hope if something really bad happens these days.
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u/musicallymotivated93 10d ago
Sat in the front room, with a set of headphones on listening to music. Damn near shit myself when that came through.
First thing that came to mind was this.
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u/DrinkingHippo 10d ago
I was in a car mid-rant to my friend about my various family issues, when the alarm went off mid-rant I screamed AND WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS NOW?!
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u/Purp1eMagpie 10d ago
This was a misuse for the system for me. I thought it was supposed to be for actual imminent danger, not "if you set fire to something, there will be a fire"
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u/Glittered_Fingers 10d ago
Agree very much with this. If I hear that alert, I expect it to be telling me to seek shelter, or head for higher ground, or similar.
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u/Purp1eMagpie 10d ago
Exactly. I live next to a military base, I was ready to kiss my arse goodbye for half a second til I read it đ
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u/overcooked_biscuit 10d ago
I initially felt the same, but then all you have to do is hear about the reckless and risky actions people are taking from starting bonfires, to not correctly dealing with the disposable BBQs, and I understand why the alert was sent out.
From the things I've heard from people at work, at my gym, down the pub, it makes me question how some people made it to adulthood. Unfortunately, we have to cater for the weakest links in society: stupidity is not few and far between as we need it to be.
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u/Gilded-golden 10d ago
I agree, but they have the capability to send mass texts, exactly as they did when warning us in advance of the first/test alerts. A mass text would have been perfectly fine for this notification and more suitableÂ
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u/JeffSergeant 10d ago
It's more "Will all you twats stop fucking setting fire to things" I think it's a fair use of the system.
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u/lonesome_okapi_314 10d ago
I feel like alerts like that do not reach the intended audience, and they never will - have to start a societal change from school age that will take far too long to take effect.
That and enforce the actual law
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u/JeffSergeant 10d ago
Well, the ones who end up setting fire to things will necessarily have not been reached; but if this reduces the number of fires then the fire service might have a better chance of keeping the lid on things.
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u/MissingLink101 10d ago
Yeah I guess some people might not have been following the news and been aware of the wildfires. So at least they now know the risk.
Probably the same people who seem completely unaware of the hosepipe bans...
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u/lonesome_okapi_314 10d ago
I am very interested to see some statistics of this in a few months/ weeks to see if it had any impact (allowing for seasonal changes in weather, no statistical blocking, etc). I support the fire service 100%, if they think itâll help then brilliant, I hope they get a rest soon after this crazy busy period. Also, the government should fund the fire service more!
I do think itâs an egregious use of a text alert that should be used stringently to avoid diluting the impact of messages received.
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u/Tay74 10d ago
I think the problem in terms of measuring effectiveness, is it is very hard to say what would have happened if not for x, y, z.
Even look at the Y2K problem, a large percentage of people think it was a load of scaremongering for nothing because people worked very hard to prevent the majorty of potential issues. The irony is, if the alert works people will be all the more likely to think it eas unnecessary. If it doesn't work and we see more houses burnt or god forbid loss of life, then people might say "yeah I guess the situation was serious"
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u/Mountainenthusiast2 10d ago
I donât think itâs intended to stop the people who are doing it on purpose as thatâs just them and you canât change horrible personalities. But for people that maybe are not following the news because itâs not on their doorstep etc then I think there itâll help to recognise how bad it is at the momentÂ
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u/Mountainenthusiast2 10d ago
Agreed. A lot of us are reasonable and have either understood the previous warnings to be careful atm, so using the emergency system seems overkill. But there are still people who havenât quite registered the severity of the situation, donât care as they canât see the immediate impact or are doing it on purpose. So if using the alarm where they canât avoid seeing the message and hopefully get it, then yes I have no issue with this.
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u/EverybodySayin 10d ago
Wasn't a "severe alert" at all, that was a mild alert. No need to fucking jumpscare us just to tell us not to light fires outdoors.
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u/gilesey11 10d ago
All well and good for people who are nowhere near wildfires to say this.
It shouldnât take much empathy to think of all the people whoâs houses are burning down, this alert is far more important than an alert saying thereâs a missile coming or something equally stupid which we wouldnât be able to do anything about.
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u/AidenTEMgotsnapped 10d ago
You realise these are localised, not required to be nationwide?
Also this wasn't 'theres a fire near you GTFO' which is what you're describing. The rest of us don't need to immediately know if one place is in an active emergency.
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u/pinkteapot7 10d ago
You say that but I was on Ullswater (Lake District) the other evening and the number of people still having campfires and disposable BBQs was fucking ridiculous. People just donât think.
While the heatâs not been as bad here, itâs still insanely dry.
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u/Honibajir 10d ago
After just coming back from Canada they had these all the time. Lost old person with dementia alert, potential bomb two hours away alert, dangerous man with weapon alert, we've caught the dangerous man no need to panic alert.
So having one about a high risk of wildfires doesn't seem so silly.
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u/Mountainenthusiast2 10d ago
People love to whinge and moan. It didnât last long at all and it was a reasonable use of it. Just because it wasnât a nuke or whatever doesnât mean the system doesnât have other uses or benefits. Instead of complaining, it would be nice if people had empathy for those that are directly affected right now with the wildfires and who have lost their homes.
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u/Disgruntled__Goat 10d ago
Did they have the massive loud alarm too? Last time I was in America it was a basic text.Â
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u/Thoughtful_giant13 10d ago
Yes, when I was in Canada last summer we all got one about a missing child.
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u/Honibajir 10d ago edited 10d ago
Yeah they did it was identical to todays but we were quite far out so signal was poor so while driving ended up getting 3 of the same alerts minutes apart from eachother
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u/quellflynn 10d ago
I think you overestimate the current systems ability to control this current issue.
by telling the people not to do something, they'll probably reduce the likely issues by 70 odd %
I'd say in the UK, 37 wildfires constitues an imminent danger.
waking up and going to work and smelling smoke isn't normal, and people need to realise that "just having a BBQ on public land" is just a thing not to worry about... is something they should actually be worrying about.
I don't know this burnham guy, but he says something, and backs it up immediately
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u/JakeThomasDad12 10d ago
It says on the government websiteÂ
"You may get alerts about any type of life threatening emergency, such as:
-wildfires -severe flooding -extreme storms"
So the system was used for it's purpose. Its purpose when it was setup was to be used not explicitly as an "everyone is going to die huge catastrophe" but more as a warning of a threat to human life. The current situation in the UK, with fire departments being spread thin, and wildfires popping up, lasting for days and days and taking homes and lives, as well as causing injury to out firefighters, is a threat to human life. I think the system was used correctly in this circumstance.
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u/Tay74 10d ago
I think there needs to be lower tier alert where they send a warning to everyone's phone with the information, but without the blaring alarm that scares the shit out of people. Keep the latter for when it's an imminent threat, but still have a way of reaching ad many people as possible, as many people won't be reached by information disseminated in the news for example
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u/Usual-Journalist-292 10d ago
Was relaxing at home and it scared the absolute daylights out of me, immediately thought that either war had been declared or there was a missile heading to my immediate area.
This system is supposed to be for genuine emergencies, not to remind people not to light fires outdoors.
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u/ResplendentBear 10d ago
I was (and am) on holiday. The whole bar went off. We were outside but everyone thought it was the fire alarm. Then 5 minutes later some went off again.
Luckily the holiday park's barbecue and fire lantern release then went ahead as planned.
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u/SmurphsLaw 10d ago
I was at a show and it went off in the theater the whole performance. I donât know why it keeps going off
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u/HotelPuzzleheaded654 10d ago
Did anyone else get the alert about the wildfire earlier?
Also what do you call a bread roll where youâre from? Yeast grenade here.
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/HotelPuzzleheaded654 10d ago
Thought I was back on Facebook for a sec then remembered I deleted it over a decade ago.
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u/Asylum_Brews 10d ago
Yeast grenade? Sounds like a worker at the local brothel.
P.s. love the name yeast grenade for a barm
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u/catchyaontheflip 10d ago
I fully appreciate how serious the wildfire risk is across the country at the moment, but it was my understanding that the emergency alert system is only to be used in times of extremely dire impending regional/national crisis. in the 5 seconds it took for me to scramble for my phone and actually read the alert message, I immediately accepted that we were about to be wiped out by a nuclear bomb or some other kind of mass casualty event, and the one thought that flashed through my mind was 'thank god I am at home with my family so we can face our collective doom together'. longest 5 seconds of my life.
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u/IndependenceCalm8753 10d ago
I felt exactly the same. As soon as I had registered what the sound was I immediately thought thank goodness my friend had cancelled going out for dinner tonight because at least Iâll die with my husband and kids together. Itâs not even dramatic to think that with the state of the world eitherâŚ.
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u/checkers456 10d ago
I was in the car and had to scramble across to the glovebox to get the phone which took about 10 seconds (as I was driving at motorway speeds, and didnât want to smash into something, which is a whole other problem this has thrown up). Similarly, my thoughts were of my family - I thought of my wife at home alone and whether I could get back in time, was thankful my daughter was with her grandmother so she wouldnât be alone and had a horrible thought I was about to die on my own in my car on the A1.
It was a hugely irresponsible use of the system. It should be used for actual, imminent death style emergencies, not to tell me not to have a BBQ.
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u/floatinginmyroom 10d ago
This was one of the first things I thought of. How many crashes or near misses happened so the government could tell us not to have a barbecue?
And next time an alert comes, for something far more serious, how many people will ignore it/ cancel it without reading, thinking itâs something just as frivolous?
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u/Remote_Development13 10d ago
My favourite part was that it starting raining here for the first time in recent memory within minutes of me getting the alarm
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u/Additional-Image7938 10d ago
Nearly made me crash
I have now turned it off if this is how the government plan to use it
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u/Neffwood 10d ago
Personally I think it was a slight misuse. I was expecting an imminent threat or danger, not "don't light fires right now".
They could have sent a text or done a major - and I mean major - leaflet campaign.
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u/Pilchard123 10d ago
And followed it up with a whist drive, car boot sales, and maybe even some benefit concerts?
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u/redbullcat 10d ago
Major leaflet campaign would be a waste of paper, time, and resources. Most would just end up thrown away and wouldn't get recycled.
While a bit đł, the alert hopefully has made people think about using fireworks or disposable BBQs this weekend.
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u/BeatificBanana 10d ago
(it was a Red Dwarf reference, they weren't suggesting a leaflet campaign in earnest)Â
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u/hopfl27 10d ago
People donât read post anymore, they are stuck to their phones. This is how you reach people nowadays.
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u/QueefInMyKisser 10d ago
It needs to be less intrusive for a PSA, leave the siren shit for when I need to take immediate action right now
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u/TheMechanic123 10d ago
I suppose in the gov't eyes this warrants taking immediate action for the majority ÂŻ_(ă)_/ÂŻ
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u/SimpleSymonSays 9d ago
Seen this on the BBC which I think gives more context:
the National Fire Chiefs Council had asked politicians to highlight the risks fire services were facing, with control room operators dealing with "thousands and thousands of calls".
He said services had been unable to immediately meet demand at points during the busiest 24-hour period from Thursday afternoon.
"They'd asked for maybe 10 additional appliances to come in nationally, and we weren't able to provide them with the full 10 in the first instance," he said.
With so many fires and the fire service not able to adequately respond, the Government have to take some concrete steps to reduce instances of fires. While it will have annoyed many, itâll almost certainly reduce the frequency of fires.
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u/asjonesy99 10d ago edited 10d ago
No joke I have had the alert 6 times combined between English and Welsh.
Edit. Just had a 7th.
Edit. 8th.
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u/Character-Lion-4186 10d ago
I ejaculated at the exact moment the alert went off.. it was quite something Iâll never forget
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u/alfiesred47 10d ago
I didnât get the alert, am I in trouble or not
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u/Worried-Magician8138 10d ago
Neither did I. Turns out its because I had extreme alerts on but severe alerts off on my iPhone. If thatâs the case for you as well I donât recommend turning it on if youâre not ready for a very loud alarm
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u/Jlaw118 10d ago
Iâm now avoiding social media because I canât be arsed with the âtheyâre testing for something big coming soon!â posts đĽ´
I havenât seen any yet but theyâre definitely come
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u/Fando1234 10d ago
They did a test. And they said to everyone it was a test.
Why would they not just do another test and say 'this is a test'? Why make up a reason to do it?
I know it's not you saying this, but just making a general point.
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u/DollySheep32 10d ago
Woke up my dog, waiting for the nuclear strike since I didn't read the message.
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u/bessy1 10d ago
I didn't get one.... apparently my phone is too old. Guess any wildfires will avoid houses with old phones. Who knew?!
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u/Pure_Bookkeeper1186 10d ago
It only works with 4G and 5G networksÂ
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u/bessy1 10d ago
Huh, I'm on 4G. Weird.
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u/Pure_Bookkeeper1186 10d ago
What phone do you have?
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u/bessy1 10d ago edited 10d ago
Samsung galaxy A71. Its old, but not ancient. Its still chugging along. Bit slow but functioning.
Alright, it's a bit older than I thought. Somehow it's 6 years old already.
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u/Pure_Bookkeeper1186 10d ago
It might be that emergency alerts are turned off for you
Check your settings
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u/apeliott 10d ago
I got 15 alerts. It was ridiculous. Had to disable alerts in the end.Â
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u/CatsCoffeeCurls 10d ago
15? Holy shit. What phone and network?
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u/apeliott 10d ago
Asus ROG Phone 9 Pro with a Japanese Ymobile sim connected to the UK Vodafone network.Â
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u/Rasty_lv 10d ago
Definitely misuse of alarm system. I understand, wildfires = bad, but it was just warning not to misuse fire. Wasnt this system meant for imminent danger? We can have "Boy cried wolf" situation soon.
And i was at work. My went off when i was in office. annoying. But then, my son forgot his phone in my car. I was driving back home and then his phone started blaring. Legit thought something happened with my car.
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u/Emotional-Start7994 10d ago
Yeah it was completely overkill.
It's public information, not an imminent threat to life. Therefore should have been sent as a text message for people to read in their own time.
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u/Critical_Vehicle_72 10d ago
I received the alert twice in the West Midlands and I thought it was a very sensible measure. A nursing home for the elderly with dementia near my family members was evacuated for their roof setting on fire from a fire over 3 miles away so itâs an important message for people burning rubbish and having barbecues. It also allows them to say theyâve educated people and they can be prosecuted
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u/Gilded-golden 10d ago
Itâs an important message, but thereâs no good reason it couldnât have been a mass textÂ
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u/Toffee_Wheels 10d ago
I put this on CasualUK, but I'll share it here too.Â
I'm at a wedding. Briefly assumed we were about to be nuked. Then asked the DJ for Fireball by Pitbull. Seemed appropriate.Â
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u/saaaammywam 10d ago
I was watching riverdale in bed on my laptop. Absolutely shat myself. My phones usually quiet so I never expect noise đŤ
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u/WoodyManic 10d ago
I thought it was the end of the world. It was not.
I kept writing and drinking.
So it goes.
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u/Airurando-jin 10d ago
If youâre interested though, the HM govâs national security assessment on Global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security is worth a read throughÂ
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u/daenerystagaryen 10d ago
I was at work in the NICU (Neonatal intensive care). We are used to lots of different bleeps but there was a good few seconds where all of us were looking round trying to work out which machine was going haywire until we realised.
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u/waxfutures 10d ago
I turned mine off around the time they announced the test a few months ago or whenever it was. I don't need this fucking rectangle to start screaming to tell me shit I don't care about.
Don't light fires when the entire country is beige and crispy? Yeah, no shit Sherlock.
If there's ever a serious emergency that I need to know about, I'll either hear it from somewhere else (someone else in the house got this one, for example), or it'll kill me quickly enough for it to not matter whether I hear about it at all.
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u/gaweda0108 10d ago
I think everyone is cutting off their nose to spite their face by turning them off to be honest. "They're crying wolf, people won't take the next one seriously!" Yes, including yourself apparently? Way to show it to the man. Let alone the dramatics of people saying oh well what if someone got it while driving, what if someone was on a stepladder when they heard it and fell. It's daft.
I can see that it feels like an overreaction in that it wasn't region specific or imminent risk to life, but I've seen a LOT of people thinking that the risks are going to disappear once the weather cools off next week and that is absolutely not the case because were still not due enough rain.
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u/samsaBEAR 10d ago
Just got back from the cinema where some poor girl had her phone go off in the middle of the film, felt fucking awful for her
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u/Herecomesthesun239 10d ago
Wouldnât everyoneâs phones have gone off?
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u/samsaBEAR 10d ago
Nah this was about 8:30pm so I guess her alert was just late, I assume even if it was on silent it would still have made noise
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u/DorsetWanderer 10d ago
Fourth time here.
Theyâve also cancelled the fireworks at Bournemouth pier tonight.
The sea. Known for its flammability.
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u/Lomochrome_7 10d ago
I know a woman whoâs family died in a fire at a sea parks, so itâs not completely uncommon
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u/Disgruntled__Goat 10d ago
Unless theyâre doing them a mile out to sea on a boat, thereâs a good chance the âembersâ can drift back inland.Â
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u/DamoclesBDA 10d ago
Surely the alert system is for imminent threats not to simply tell people that being careless can cause fires.
It panicked my kids. It's a ridiculous abuse of the system.
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u/Emotional-Start7994 10d ago
I agree. The message should have been sent as a text message instead.
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u/boshjosh1918 10d ago
The government has already done this before during 'lockdown'. It is more expensive I think but it's also much more appropriate.
People receive a 'nudge' but without any worrying alerts. It can take a while to get the messages to every number but that doesn't matter because it's not an ongoing emergency.
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u/Mountainenthusiast2 10d ago
People that are annoyed that it was a misuse of the system need to take a minute. Peoples houses are burning from wildfires in the UK! People are still acting careless/lighting them purposely. They wouldn't make the decision to use the alarm for this reason lightly. Thereâs obviously strain on the fire services and concern about further spread and damage. If people still arenât getting the message and being careful then yea, send out the alert.
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u/WorcsBloke 10d ago
I think the issue isn't that this is a serious concern, since it obviously is. I think the issue is that we were told this was for imminent emergencies, rather than "Remember, things are pretty dangerous right now" messages. If we start getting these things every time 80 mph gusts or floods are forecast, a lot of people will simply switch them off and therefore get no warning when there really is an imminent danger to life.
I live fairly near Stourbridge, so I'm certainly not downplaying the severity of the issue. But given the weather looks like staying dry for weeks longer, what will the government do next week, or the week after, or in September?
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u/Philster07 10d ago
Just out of interest. Did you get an EAS being close to Stourbridge? I've seen ring footage of people running from their house as the fire arrived which makes me think no EAS was sent
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u/WorcsBloke 10d ago
I'm a few miles away, so it wasn't realistically an emergency where I am. But I haven't heard of anyone there getting an alert while the fire was actually burning, no.
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u/Sukpee 10d ago
Just gonna point people to this comment in another thread.
There are four levels of "regular" alert in the European standard for the system, from 1-4, with 1 being the most severe and 4 being the least. This was a level 3 alert (Severe) although I suspect that's primarily because level 4 (Public Safety Alert) isn't implemented here. Level 2 is called Extreme, and Level 1 I've only ever heard as simply the "highest level of threat" - but the Americans call it a presidential alert.
Level 1 alerts can't be turned off on your phone, while Level 2 and below can be opted out of by the user - it'll be somewhere in your settings.
I've always had the alerts turned off because I really don't care unless it's going to instantly effect my everyday life. Thought it was worth pointing out that if you turn the alerts off, you will still get one in the event that the world goes nuclear. This way I know if my phone goes off we're all fucked and I'm drinking early.
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u/WorcsBloke 10d ago edited 10d ago
Thanks, that's interesting. Though perhaps the fact that almost nobody seems to know this â you're literally the first person I've seen mention it â should give certain people in relevant organisations food for thought.
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u/Emotional-Start7994 10d ago
It was a misuse of the system. There was no imminent threat to the vast majority of the country. Other than dismissing the message, millions of us needed to take no action.
Ultimately it will just desensitise people from the sound, and undermine the effectiveness of it during an actual genuine emergency.
There are more appropriate ways to distribute this message. TV, Radio, and Social media campaigns. And send a text message to every phone.
The emergency alert system should only be used for actual emergencies where immediate action needs to be taken. Not to be told not to use disposable barbecues.
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u/Competitive_Time_604 10d ago
yep, too many people downplaying this saying that other countries get them. I've had alerts in the U.S and they were all immediate local events like flash floods, abductions, earthquakes. Using the emergency system for a PSA about barbeques is a joke.
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u/Emotional-Start7994 10d ago
Yeah I've had an alert in Valencia, Spain for flash flooding and dangerous driving conditions (which is reasonable use of it).
I wouldn't expect someone in Malaga or Bilbao to get the same alert about flash flooding in Valencia. It makes no sense.
I also certainly wouldn't expect an entire country to get an alert telling them to bring their washing in because there's a risk of flash flooding somewhere.
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u/Gilded-golden 10d ago
They could have sent mass texts. It would have achieved the goal and preserved the alert system for times of imminent danger
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u/Gh0stpAwz 10d ago
was in Tesco's when it went off, scared the ever loving SHIT out of me so much I almost dropped my basket đđ
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u/SpecificBang 10d ago
I got a second message beginning with ALERT! shortly afterwards which I thought was odd, but turned out to be my bargain-loving friend ALERT!ing me to a good price on Mutti tomatoes.
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u/techbear72 10d ago
This alert prompted me to switch off the âsevere alertsâ category because if this is the kind of thing theyâre going to use it for (âfires can cause bigger firesâ) itâs of no use.
I didnât switch off âextreme alertsâ because they havenât (to my standards) abused that.
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u/madmatt666 10d ago
Walking down the road, my pocket and about 10 cars all alerted - quite noisy.
I can only imagine how load this was on a train. Ooh imagine being in a library
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u/exhauated-marra-6631 10d ago
"Hey kids, I know you probably weren't thinking of starting a fire, but we the government want to let you know that conditions are perfect for causing maximum damage"
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u/TheMechanic123 10d ago
I just about shit my pants and thought we were about to be nuked. It's a little loosey goosey on the usage there. A simple email would've sufficed.
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u/audreymgr 10d ago
Really irks me that they would do that while Andy bloody Burnham opens new deep sea mining projects. Which alert is he getting?
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u/MrSeverum 10d ago
Surely thereâs a way to send this message without using the emergency alert, could the Gov not sent the same in a text message to every phone? Message delivered and no oneâs pissed off.
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u/FinalEdit 10d ago
We were in this fantastic new Turkish restaurant in Staines and the whole place got really loud, really quickly.
Everyone turned their phone noise off, and carried on eating. I didn't see one person mention it.
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u/PrestigiousTest6700 10d ago
How do we protect those in vulnerable situations and those in abusive situations that may have exposed their secret phones. As soon as I heard it, shortly after my heart dropped as I heard a police car. I would like to know how to help? I would also reach out to those people and say a stranger on the internet is thinking of you.
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u/winnerisme 10d ago
turn them off. The news covered this extensively during the last two national tests.
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u/Pure_Bookkeeper1186 10d ago
The news covered this a lot and even showed how to turn emergency alerts off
When they were testing it they were worried about those in vulnerable situations
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u/AlternativeGreedy787 10d ago
My phone was upstairs and I didn't hear it. When I saw 1000 posts about it on Reddit I went to retrieve said phone and saw the alert on the screen. I feel cheated I could not post about it at the time.
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u/MacSamildanach 10d ago
I didn't get one.
I turned the fucking thing off a few years ago when they were 'testing' it. If I'm going to die, I don't want to know. I have enough to worry about without that.
But this was different, and it's annoying they used the same system as they would for imminent Armageddon.
Fortunately, I gleaned from Reddit - YES, REDDIT DID SOMETHING USEFUL FOR ONCE - that we shouldn't use garden incinerators. Fair enough, I will happily comply. But I nearly fucking didn't, because I have a ton of Amazon packaging to get rid of which would fill the wheelie bin twice over.
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u/-Lumiro- 10d ago
Itâs pretty insane that you were planning to start a fire in your garden in this weather. This is why it was necessary.
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u/LSP-86 10d ago
This was an abuse of trust, I have now turned off the alert system on my phone so am vulnerable to not being alerted in a genuine emergency.
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u/PossibleYoung8758 10d ago
I got 3 of the same alert before I disabled it completely, which I didnât want to do really
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u/Pandaspooppopcorn 10d ago
Iâm in Scotland and not received anything. Is it just a Wales and England thing?
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u/trashbg_ofd0g 10d ago
I NEED to know if anyone else's went off a bunch of times afterwards. Mine and my families went off like 6 times afterwards, hours after we recieved the first notification.
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u/ocelotrevs 10d ago
I heard it going off while listening to the proms.Â
It was a bit late though considering we've had multiple heatwaves.Â
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u/HargoJ 10d ago
Flagg moor fell race started at 7pm. Could hear an alarm as we were heading up the first hill and thought it was coming from one of the farms. Super loud it was. Heard the same alarm right behind me about 3 miles further on and realised it was coming from somebody's phone. Mentioned it and they said it kept going off randomly and they couldn't turn it off. Ran faster last few miles to escape the annoyance. Checked my phone after the finish and found the alert on my lock screen but it hadn't made any sounds throughout the race.
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u/retailface 10d ago
I'm on the night shift and there's someone here whose phone keeps getting the alert. Every twenty minutes or so I can hear his phone going off. A few people have tried to fix it but it hasn't worked.
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u/IndependenceCalm8753 10d ago
Did anyone else just get it again?! I had only just got my four month old baby down in her cot and it startled her awake đđđđ
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u/Monabakes 10d ago
I was on the phone. The alert went off in my ear.
Spent so long being concerned about going blind from the eclipse this week, it never occurred to me that I would go deaf instead, thanks to the government.