The Government Telephone Preference Scheme ( GTPS ) was a British system for limiting outgoing calls from landlines if the network was overloaded during an emergency. Numbers registered under the GTPS were still be able to make outgoing calls if the service was limited. All telephones were still be able to receive calls. The scheme was decommissioned in 2017.
34-440: There were three categories of use – the most essential were called Preference Category I, limited to 2% of lines of a telephone exchange. According to a British government document, they were intended to be limited to "lines vital to the prosecution of war and to national survival". The second category – Preference Category II – were for lines needed for the community and these and Preference Category II were limited in total to 10% of
68-574: A state of emergency and a transition to a war footing in the UK, and why, but these may not necessarily happen in the order listed or at all. This legislation is already pre-drafted in three stages and could be imposed by an Order in Council , without Parliament's input or approval. "Reservists" are any members of the public who serve in the armed forces and emergency services on a part-time basis. Many will hold down regular civilian jobs and be called up on
102-549: A national emergency. For example, the Energy Act 1976 allows the Secretary of State to create regulations governing the production, distribution and use of coal , petrol , diesel , gas , biofuels and electricity in a crisis. For example, it could allow rationing, power cuts in certain areas to allow blackouts near key installations, restrictions on civilian use of cars and the like. The Broadcasting Act 1980 allows
136-752: A variety of different organisations including; Auxiliary Fire Service , National Hospital Service Reserve , Civil Defence Corps and the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation. UKWMO training effectively ceased in the summer of 1991 after the Home Secretary's stand-down announcement. When the UKWMO was disbanded, and the ROC stood down, the government referred to "possible future developments and improvements in automated nuclear explosion and fallout detection from remote sensors", but it
170-456: Is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) military term referring to a period of international tension during which government and society move to an open (but not necessarily declared) war footing. The period after this is considered to be war, conventional or otherwise, but the term TTW found its origins in the peak of the Cold War as a key NATO concept within the tripwire escalation of
204-543: Is similar to Transition to War. The legislation that facilitates the transition to war is pre-drafted and has been in existence since the 1930s, when World War II required certain legislation to be passed to prosecute the war effectively. This mostly included the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939 and the controversial Defence Regulation 18B , which allowed the detention of subversives without charge or trial. A number of these emergency regulations lasted until
238-412: Is unlikely that any such system has yet to be developed or installed. Civil nuclear defence since 1992 has been devolved to UK local authorities as an addition to their routine emergency planning responsibilities and under direction of the government's Civil Contingencies Secretariat but the four-minute warning air raid alert system no longer operates. Transition to war Transition to war (TTW)
272-561: The Cold War was during Cuban Missile Crisis in October and November 1962. The organisation was wound up and disbanded in November 1992 following a review prompted by the government's Options for Change report. Its emblem-of-arms was a pair of classic hunting horns crossing each other, pointed upwards, with the enscrolled motto "Sound An Alarm", a title also used for the latter of two contemporary public information films (the earlier one
306-471: The DEFCON status. This could include the suspension of peacetime services, closing motorways to all but military traffic and the internment of subversives without charge or trial. The Federal Emergency Management Agency would declare this period as Increased Readiness in a move to expedite Civil Defense training, among other things in order to prepare civil authorities for a nuclear attack, and to an extent
340-526: The Emergency Planning College , The Hawkhills, Easingwold, Yorkshire. Several major war simulation exercises were held each year 2 x WARMON (Warning and Monitoring) one day UK exercises and the two-day INTEX (International exercise) along with other NATO countries. Four times a year minor and limited exercises called POSTEX were held on a stop – start basis across three evenings of a week, Monday to Wednesday. Realistic simulation material
374-657: The Northern Ireland Peace Process and the Human Rights Act 1998 passing into law, these emergency powers and the legal framework that supported them became dated and needed re-examining. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 was introduced to provide a new enabling power to introduce emergency regulations, but it cannot be used by the Government to alter the Human Rights Act 1998 . The following table gives examples of what could happen in
SECTION 10
#1732802191438408-571: The Parliament Acts or be done through an Order in Council , which is essentially a royal decree . The bills themselves would be enacted in three stages. The first stage is a covert review of what to do and what needs to be revised, done only by ministers and civil servants. The second stage is more overt and would include 24-hour manning of government departments, people being briefed of their wartime roles, testing of sirens and other communication systems, cancelling police leave and mobilising
442-598: The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation and Royal Observer Corps operational lines have been deleted from the scheme. A similar scheme limiting mobile telephone access is called MTPAS (formerly ACCOLC ). United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation ( UKWMO ) was a British civilian organisation operating to provide UK military and civilian authorities with data on nuclear explosions and forecasts of fallout across
476-479: The requisitioning of private property (including land, buildings, vehicles, ships and aircraft), preventing key workers from leaving their employment , widening the role of the armed forces and fire brigades , reorganising the National Health Service , control of transport, extra police powers , regulation of money supply and currency controls and compensation. The General Bill would be
510-648: The Home Office scientific branch and through lectures or practical training organised by the Assistant Sector Controller who was the area UKWMO training officer. The Director UKWMO was located at the United Kingdom Regional Air Operations Command (UK RAOC) at RAF Booker tasked with instigating the four-minute warning . The Deputy Director would be located at a standby UK RAOC, described at
544-575: The area control points for power operated sirens, so these were equipped with new WB1400 carrier control warning equipment. If a warning was received then the police could operate the sirens via remote control, the carrier warning signal did not automatically operate the warning sirens (a few of which were those used in the Second World War). Many of the sirens are still in operation in coastal areas and are now used for emergency flood warning. Between 1985 and 1990 all communications links used by
578-420: The armed forces (including reservists). The third and final stage would be the activation of war measures, such as local councils setting up refugee centres and the like. The actual bills would effectively be enabling acts allowing for the implementation of the pre-drafted legislation. The bills' content was not divulged both on the grounds of national security and because it would be politically controversial for
612-527: The country in the event of nuclear war . The UKWMO was established in 1957 and funded by the Home Office and used its own premises which were mainly staffed by Royal Observer Corps (ROC) uniformed full-time and volunteer personnel as the fieldforce. The ROC was administered by the Ministry of Defence but mainly funded by the Home Office. The only time the combined organisations were on high alert in
646-480: The event of an emergency) for data and voice with a radio back up option. Some other UKWMO telephone lines and the warning broadcast system were protected by the Post Office's Telephone Preference Scheme that kept the lines active while the general public's system could be progressively attenuated under wartime regulations. Both wholetime and sparetime UKWMO personnel undertook specialist residential training at
680-538: The exchange. All other users were in Category III. The scheme was established in the 1950s. The scheme ceased to accept new numbers from 2013 due to the replacement by service providers of the infrastructure over which the scheme operated. The scheme was decommissioned in 2017. Phones on the scheme included armed forces headquarters, local authority emergency planning centres, emergency services such as police, fire and ambulance and public telephone boxes. Since 1992
714-621: The governments to take over editorial control of the BBC , ITV , Independent Local Radio and Independent National Radio in a national emergency. The Railways Act 1976 has similar provisions with regard to the British railway system. The minister or Secretary of State can take control of the railways in the event of war, including the Channel Tunnel. Since this legislation is pre-drafted, it would be either rushed through Parliament using
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#1732802191438748-442: The group as Group Controller . Assessing the nuclear burst and fallout information and data provided by the ROC was a team of ten or more Warning Officers led by a Chief Warning Officer . The members of the warning team were recruited from mainly local secondary school science teachers, or commercial engineers and technicians with a scientific education and background. They trained every two weeks from printed materials provided by
782-834: The mid-1950s, and were finally abolished with the end of rationing in 1954. However the Cold War brought the possibility of war with the Soviet Union, which would require similar legislation to allow NATO countries to defend themselves effectively. Hence pre-drafted legislation governing every aspect of life in the United Kingdom, consisting of the Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill, Defence (Machinery of Government) Regulations and other laws were devised. Other regulations included: Other existing legislation governing everyday matters already allows for special provisions in
816-496: The party in charge at that time to do so considering their draconian nature. It would also be unconstitutional, as one parliament would be effectively determining the affairs of a future one. However, they consisted of the Special Powers Bill , which allowed the police extra powers to stop, search and arrest people , restrictions on ships and aircrew, along with compensation. The second, The Readiness Bill , covered
850-405: The power sirens in the urban towns. Sparetime warning team members were activated, through a rehearsed transition to war telephone calling card procedure, by wholetime Royal Observer Corps officers located at the twenty five group headquarters. UKWMO communications used private wires (PWs) (permanently available and with greater protection) or emergency circuits (ECs) (switched for exercises or in
884-570: The shared UK/USA Ballistic Missile Early Warning System in England, (the site is now upgraded and still operational at RAF Fylingdales , on the North York Moors ) and disseminated through UKRAOC to the carrier warning system. This was commonly, and slightly erroneously, known as the Four minute warning . The Civil Defence Medal was instituted March 1961 and awarded for 15 years service in
918-649: The third and final stage of putting Britain on a war footing. While building on the other two, it would also provide the legal framework for regional government (national government could fail), including the powers of the regional commissioner. Along with this would be the power to take over the BBC (which already exists), control labour, the registration of births, deaths and marriages, the administration of justice (jury trials may be suspended and special courts of justice may be established, for example. Also, subversives could be arrested by police and detained without charge or trial) and compensation. When these were drafted, it
952-646: The time as being "elsewhere in the UK". It's since been revealed as being at Goosnargh , Lancashire, within the UKWMO Western Sector nuclear bunker. Warnings were instantly distributed around the country by the Warning Broadcast System via 250 Carrier Control Points located at major police headquarters and 17,000 WB400 (later WB1400) carrier receivers in armed forces headquarters, hospitals, post offices, ROC posts and private homes in remote rural areas where hand-operated sirens replaced
986-475: The warning system, the UKWMO and the ROC were upgraded and hardened against the effects of electromagnetic pulse damage. Point-to-point SX2000 automated telephone exchanges were installed in the UKWMO Sector and Group Controls and old fashioned telegraph equipment was replaced with modern computerised message switching equipment. Ballistic missile air raid warnings for the UK would have originated from
1020-456: Was assumed that both the House of Commons and the House of Lords were sitting at the time of the crisis and become acts within a few hours or days, though it would be more problematic if Parliament was in recess, as it would take longer to enact the acts. The new legislation would have to be publicised and printed within two days. With the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s and early 1990s,
1054-598: Was called "Hole in the Ground"). Members of the UKWMO qualified for the Civil Defence Medal for fifteen years continuous years service, with a bar for each subsequent twelve years. The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation had five main functions in the event of nuclear war. These were: Headquarters UKWMO was located in a converted barracks building at Cowley Barracks in Cowley, Oxfordshire , and
Government Telephone Preference Scheme - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-533: Was completed from the mid 1980s to bring the UKWMO up to date. Modern detection instruments were provided to the ROC together with back up detectors at certain Sector or Group Controls known as Atomic Weapons Detection Recognition and Estimation of Yield (AWDREY) equipment. Updated warning equipment was installed in most government buildings, nuclear bunkers, armed forces HQs, police and fire stations and private houses in remote areas. Major police stations were used as
1122-403: Was headed by a Director and Deputy Director supported by a small administrative staff. Five professional Sector Controllers and five Assistant Sector Controllers were co-located at the five UKWMO Sector Controls. At each of the twenty five UKWMO group controls the UKWMO was represented by volunteer and specially trained members. In the event of war the senior UKWMO volunteer present would command
1156-433: Was provided for realtime simulations of a nuclear attack. Approximately every four or five years each group was subjected to a "no notice" and in depth assessment similar to an RAF "TACEVAL" or Tactical Evaluation, where a mixed team of UKWMO and ROC full-time staff would appear and evaluate all aspects of the group's planning and operations under realistic wartime conditions over a period of 48 hours. A large amount of work
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