Residents warned to be aware of emergency test alert this weekend

Residents in the Melton borough and across the UK are warned that their mobile phones will receive an emergency alert accompanied by a beeping sound at 3pm on Sunday.

The government is testing a new system of sending out urgent warnings about incidents such extreme weather or serious local criminal activity.

Helen Kennedy, chair of the Local Resilience Forum media cell, said: “The government will be testing the system nationally but its important that in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland that we tell people we know, especially those who might not watch or read the news regularly, that this will be happening.”

As well as sending the alert there will be a message providing clear instructions about how best to respond.

Ms Kennedy added: “This sort of alert system may be useful should extreme weather conditions be expected or flooding in vulnerable areas.

"It does mean that we warn people at an early stage and this may give people more time to prepare and protect themselves from risk.

"We are ensuring that all of our agencies involved in local resilience are using social media and other channels to tell people that the test is happening on Sunday but we do suggest that we all take responsibility for letting our more vulnerable family members and neighbours know so we can look after each other.”

Emergency Alerts will only ever come from the government or emergency services and will be used very rarely - only being sent where there is an immediate risk to people’s lives.

There is an option to opt out – click HERE for details.