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Police on duty at the security cordon for the Labour conference. They will now be able to inform businesses of future terror and emergency alerts via text.
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Police turn to text alerts for emergency

Iain Hepburn
15/ 7/2004

POLICE in Manchester are to use text messages to warn city businesses and residents of any terrorist incidents in future.

The new system, launched today in the city centre, will allow police to warn people in the event of a major emergency or terrorist incident.

Messages will be sent to subscribers of the new alert scheme via mobile phones, computers and pagers, telling them the type of incident, location and any safety instructions - within 30 seconds of the incident occurring.

The new scheme has been unveiled as part of the city's updated emergency arrangements, which has been updated to take account of new technology.

A new, state of the art communications system has been added to the zoning map which divides the area within the inner ring road into 29 zones.

"It is important that the city centre community has the assurance of robust arrangements to deal with the impact of major and not so major incidents," a council spokesperson said.

"The introduction of the Manchester Priorty Alert scheme is to help provide that assurance."

Small businesses will be able to join the system for '8 per month, with larger firms being charged '16.75 per month.

The arrangements for Manchester's emergency procedures have been in place since 1998, having been drawn up in the wake of the IRA bomb attack two years previously.

A dedicated website for the scheme has been established, while a CD-Rom with details of the emergency planning arrangements is also being made available from the council.