If you’re driving on Sunday afternoon it’s a good idea to be prepared for the government’s emergency alert which will cause a piercing siren on millions of mobile phones
The national system for sending emergency alerts to mobile phones will be tested for the second time ever on Sunday 7 September and drivers may want to be prepared so they don’t panic when the warning sounds.
The upcoming test will happen at exactly 3pm on Sunday, 7 September, and will see a piercing siren ring on an estimated 87 million mobiles across the UK.
If you’re driving when the test happens, drivers should leave the phone where it is and concentrate on the road.
And in the case of a real emergency alert occurring while you are behind the wheel, the government says drivers should wait until they find somewhere ‘safe and legal’ to stop the car before looking at the message, especially if they are by themselves in the vehicle.
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When the EAS was first tested in April 2023, some people were surprised as they didn’t know it was about to happen and they’d never heard the warning sound on their phones before.
It’s since been used a handful of times since that first test of the system to warn people of sudden dangers in their area.
In December 2024, 3.5 million Brits were warned about Storm Darragh as it hit the South West and Wales.
Then the following month, in January 2025, more extreme weather saw another localised emergency notification go out to 4.5 million people living in Scotland and Northern Ireland about the dangers of Storm Eowyn.
Pat McFadden, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said it’s like the “fire alarm in your house” and is ‘always on standby should we need to act.’
From fires in your area, extreme weather, or flooding, to other dangers – the system is a way of the government contacting citizens about emergencies happening where they live.
Your location services do not need to be on, according to the government website, for your device to receive an emergency notification, and the government does not have to have your phone number for the system to work.
The test is necessary to make sure the system is operating correctly and to check that as many devices as possible are receiving these emergency alerts and the warning system is intended for use in major incidents such as flooding or terror attacks.
Meanwhile, domestic abuse charities in the UK, including Refuge, have expressed their concern that victims of domestic abuse who keep a concealed phone as a safety precaution, could be placed at risk by the sounding of the alert.
This has prompted the UK government to issue advice to people in that particular situation to switch the device off, as the alert would not sound if the phone is switched off. It would also not sound if aeroplane mode was switched on.
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