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As it happenedended

Emergency alert test – live: Second alarm shock as investigation launched

Users ‘scared to death’ by 2.30am alert

Martha McHardy,Sravasti Dasgupta
Monday 24 April 2023 17:26 BST
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Moment emergency alert test goes off at London Marathon

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It was a patchy launch for the test of the government’s new emergency alert system, with reports of some users being woken up by the booming alarm in the early hours of Monday morning.

While the alert was scheduled to go out at 3pm on Sunday, some people said they did not receive the notification, while others reported the alert arriving early or late.

One mobile user told The Independent they had not received the alert on Sunday afternoon, but 2.30am on Monday.

Others took to social media with similar tales, with one user exclaiming: “Why have I just received a 2nd severe alert notification at 2:30 am? Nightmare!

“Scared me to death!!” they added.

Professor of telecommunications, Nigel Linge, said that it is not surprising the emergency alert did not work “perfectly”.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, he said: “It is not unusual that a test of this type did not work perfectly. That is what you expect. I don’t think anyone in the mobile phone industry would be surprised that it wasn’t perfect.”

The Cabinet Office said it would be reviewing the outcome of the UK-wide test of the new emergency alert system.

Moment emergency alert test goes off at London Marathon

Moment emergency alert test goes off at London Marathon
Joe Middleton24 April 2023 14:15

Watch the moment the emergency alert went off at Wembley Stadium ahead of FA Cup semi-final

Emergency alert test goes off at Wembley Stadium ahead of FA Cup semi-final
Maryam Zakir-Hussain24 April 2023 15:19

Thanks for following our live updates, we are pausing our coverage for the evening.

Katy Clifton24 April 2023 17:22

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