Aside from a few confused passersby pulling out their phones, most shoppers in Westfield Stratford in east London were unfazed by the emergency test sent to all 4G and 5G phones this afternoon.
Emma, 30, a teaching assistant, was aware and ready for the alert. “My phone was ready but it didn’t come through but other people’s went off.”
She was not alone. Three customers reported not receiving the alert despite the telecommunications company releasing a statement saying they had worked with the government to ensure their customers would get the alert.
Emma said the alert is a good idea. “They’re trying to keep us safe. Alerts, in one form or another, have been around for hundreds of years, just in different ways.
“Now they’re just adapting to the present. Everybody has a phone.”
“The world is a horrible place somedays and with everything going on around the world, you never know what might happen in the UK.”
Paul Chin, 70, a bookseller and engineer, was coming out of the underground in Stratford with his wife, who declined to give her name, as the alert went off.
“We heard loads of phones going off all around us but with tannoys going off most people ignored it or were confused.”
They had left the theatre 20 minutes before the alert was scheduled to go out. “I wondered what would have happened if we were still there. That would have been a bit of a mess. I don’t know if they thought about this thing or not.”
Paul thinks the alert would be more useful for those outside London. “If there really is an emergency, it’s not going to affect London the same way as it would say some remote parts of the countryside where flooding might occur.
“I mean let’s say the Russians decided to come and do something in London. Having a phone bleep at you ain’t gonna help is it?
One passerby, 22, who declined to give her name, said she had received conspiracy theories about the alert on WhatsApp. “They’re saying put your phone away or turn your phone off because something is gonna happen or avoid public spaces so you’re not affected by it.”
She was also concerned about privacy. “If [the government] can do this then what else do they have access to? Do they have access to your data? There have been apps in the past that have taken our data.”
