Labour MP hits out at 'bad reaction' to nuclear siren going off in Plymouth
Labour MP Luke Pollard has written to the defence secretary over the 'woeful' lack of communication around a nuclear siren sounding in Plymouth.
The air raid sirens went off in Devonport on Monday afternoon - outside of its usual testing time of 11.30am.
The siren, which can be heard for miles, signals that radioactive material has been released into the air and/or marine environment.
On Monday it was a false alarm, but Mr Pollard says it took "far too long for that to be properly communicated". He has since written to the MoD.
The Devonport Naval Base siren has never been sounded for a real event, but is part of a robust safety plan in case there ever is an emergency.
In a video on July 4, Mr Pollard said: "The nuclear radiation siren went off today in Devonport. Not just the weekly test but this afternoon going off signalling a release of radiation from Devonport. It was a false alarm but that information took far too long to be communicated.
"The communications today were poor, they were hopeless. Plymouth needs to have confidence that when the nuclear sirens go off - those air raid sirens that they we hear on its weekly test - that they must be taken seriously, that communication needs to be clear as to what they need to do, what people need to do to save lives, to stay safe.
"The communication today was not good enough. That needs to change so I've written to the defence secretary asking not only for a review into how it happened but a root and branch investigation into how we can have better communications that will keep people safe in the event the alarm goes off for real in the future. Today was not good enough."
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “We apologise for any distress caused by the internal alarm that sounded outside of routine testing in HMNB Devonport on Monday. We promptly informed local authorities and other stakeholders this was a false alarm and that no action needed to be taken.
“We are urgently investigating the cause of the unplanned alarm to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”