Pub tells punters to leave their phones at home on noisy emergency alert day

A village pub has banned mobile phones on the day of the government emergency alert to stop it ‘intruding’ on their Sunday roast dinners.

The Camelot, in South Cadbury near Yeovil, has asked customers to leave their phones at home, or at the very least switch them off.

The government is testing a new emergency alert system at 3pm this Sunday, which will see a UK-wide message featuring a loud alarm noise and vibration.

It is intended only for use in the event of a serious incident, for example, severe flooding, extreme weather or a terrorist incident.

But staff at the Somerset pub ‘don’t feel it is necessary’ while they tuck into their roast dinners.

A statement from the pub read: ‘The Camelot is requesting all customers to leave their mobile phones at home if they are coming to the pub.

‘We have all heard the alert on various news channels and we feel very strongly that we don’t want the alarm system to spoil the enjoyment of customers coming for our legendary roast lunches.

‘If customers feel strongly about bringing their phones then we kindly request you turn them off while in the pub before the alarm goes off at 3pm.

‘Any customer who does have an alarm go off will be asked to pop a large donation into our charity box. This month our chosen charity is The Alzheimer’s Society.

‘We are really sorry if this offends some customers. As we have all had the chance to hear the alarm we don’t feel it’s necessary to have it intrude our lives on a Sunday here.’

The emergency alerts can be opted out of in your phone’s settings, or you will not receive an alert if your phone is off, in airplane mode or connected to Wifi only.

A cyber security expert has warned phone users phishers and hackers may take advantage of this weekend’s alert to scam people.

Nick France, CTO at Sectigo, said: ‘I expect scammers will grasp the opportunity to send fake alerts, which are likely to include bogus links, relying on the fact that many members of the public won’t know or remember that no links are supposed to be in the government’s alert.’

Domestic violence charities have warned victims to switch their phones off ahead of the alert, in case it reveals hidden handsets to their abusers.

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