Many shoppers came to a halt and others looked at their phones, carrying on what they were doing in Bury, as millions of UK mobile phones received a siren-like sound to test the new national alert system.

The alert came with a 10-second alarm that sounded on devices using the country’s 4G and 5G networks.

The loud alarm was planned to ring at 3pm on all devices that were using 4G and 5G networks in the UK, but some say that they didn’t receive an alert, and at The Rock in Bury, the sirens could be heard after 3pm.

Following the test, some users reported receiving the message a minute or so early.

Robert Valentine from Bury, says he was expecting the alarm to sound at around 3pm, so he wasn’t caught by surprise.

He said: “I was aware it was coming around 3pm.

“There’s also not a lot you can do about it.

“I think it’s been in the making for a long time.”

Anna Davey says she was also expecting the alarm so also wasn’t caught off guard and says, “it’s probably going to be a good thing”.

She said: “I was expecting the alarm, but I did almost forget about it around two minutes before it went off.

“But it wasn’t a surprise.

“Other countries have it, so I think it’s probably going to be a good thing.”

The alert rang for 10 seconds and displayed a message notifying phone users that no action was needed in response to the test.

The test message that appeared on phones said: “This is a test of Emergency Alerts, a new UK Government service that will warn you if there’s a life-threatening emergency nearby.

Bury Times: Emergency alert message

“In a real emergency, follow the instructions in the alert to keep yourself and others safe.

“Visit gov.uk/alerts for more information.

“This is a test. You do not need to take any action.”

Some smartphones also read out the message to recipients.

Phones that were powered off or switched to airplane mode were not expected to sound.

The emergency alert system is designed to warn the public if there is a danger to life nearby.

In future, a similarly loud notification and message will be sent to those the UK Government is seeking to reach.

Once established, the system is intended to be used in life-threatening situations including flooding and wildfires.

People who do not wish to receive future alerts will be able to opt out using their device settings, but officials hope the life-saving potential of the messages means users will keep them on.

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