RESIDENTS across the Bradford district have been reacting to a Government Emergency Alert which sprung onto millions of mobile phones and tablets across the UK today.

The loud alarm was planned to ring at 3pm on all devices that were using 4G and 5G networks in the UK.

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

Some smartphones also read out the message to recipients.

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

However, others said their phone did not display the message or make a sound.

To turn off the alert on an iPhone, users had to scroll to the bottom of their notifications in the phone's settings and switch off 'Extreme Alerts' and 'Severe Alerts'.

Angela Evans-Cornwall said: "All ours went off loud and clear."

Anne Sullivan added: "Russ thought it was an alert to tell him he had left his handbrake on when in fact it was my phone that went off in the car.

Tina Cummins added: "I didn't even get one. I'm rather disappointed."

John Brazendale said: "I expected it to be louder."

Claire Pell said: "We have three phones in the room and only one went off."

Karen Hudson added: "It was not very loud at first I thought it was a noise on my TV."

Sarah Hunter added: "I jumped even though I was expecting it."

Nicole Walcott added: "Switched it off in settings and it still went off.

Katie Allen said: "Mine went off in the cinema."

Alyson Moore said: "Scared my cat, just not acceptable."

Tracy Feather added: "Just got mine eight minutes late."

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.

"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."

The system is similar to those in the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan and is intended to be used in life-threatening situations including flooding and wildfires.

Alerts will only be sent by the emergency services or government departments, agencies and public bodies that deal with emergencies.