Readers have described being terrified by the government's 'severe alert' warning on wildfires that blared from phones on Friday evening, saying it could cause accidents and urging a better way for genuine alerts.
Drivers recount frightening experience
Elspeth Christie from Kirkhaugh, Northumberland, wrote that she was reversing into a tight parking space with two passengers when a terrifyingly loud noise cut through the car from both passengers' phones and presumably hers, frightening all of them. She thought someone was trying to warn her of immediate danger and looked around desperately to see if she had killed someone. She said if she had been travelling at speed, it could have caused a bad accident, and questioned how much of an emergency it was to tell people not to buy disposable barbecues.
Call for gentler alerts
She suggested that a better way can be found for genuine alerts that does not put people at risk, and that things like changes in the law can be communicated in a gentler way.
Alan Murphy from London commented on the outcome of the belated Cobra meeting in reaction to the extreme heat, which included a ban on portable barbecues and an emergency alert telling people what they already know. He wrote that the headline writes itself: 'Burnham fiddles while Britain burns'.
