People are sharing stories of how they accidentally hit the alarm button after Caitlin Moran saw this
It all started when a bus driver had a bit of a nightmare outside writer and broadcaster Caitlin Moran’s house.
Person having the worst day today: outside my house, the driver of the W5 has accidentally pressed the "THIS BUS IS UNDER ATTACK – PLEASE DIAL 999" announcement button, and doesn't know how to cancel it. It broadcasts from a speaker on the roof.
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) July 2, 2020
It was a funny story all by itself …
Go out and attack it so he doesn’t look silly
— Alison Joyce (@alison_j_joyce) July 2, 2020
… but it prompted people to share tales of the times they accidentally hit the (metaphorical) nuclear button.
Well, nearly always metaphorical.
1.
I once activated the town nuclear attack sirens while doing the early Sunday morning system test. Only lasted 30 seconds and triggered a flurry of calls from people I convinced were dreaming.
— Dr Pete Jones (@fatwhitebloke) July 2, 2020
2.
I set off a stealth alarm at the British Ambassador's residence in Tel Aviv in 1989 when I nipped out the back for a fag. After a minute or so, an armed Israeli response team arrived and asked who I was and what I was doing. "Ned" and "having a smoke" were my replies.
— Ned Boulting (@nedboulting) July 2, 2020
3.
my friend's mom worked in a bank behind the desks and took my friend in one day because she had no childcare – friend being only 5 years old hit the panic button under the desk and a SWAT team arrived
— elly 🏳️🌈 (@quietbatpeople) July 2, 2020
4.
I've done this! I was around 4 or 5, my mum worked at the bank. Saw what looked like a doorbell under the counter and pressed it. Disappointed it didn't make a noise… Very excited when the police turned up 🚓
— Paula Byrne (@Paula_Byrne) July 2, 2020
5.
In a previous job, I consistently entered the main door alarm code wrong which led the local police to eventually just call my phone every time the alarm went off to see if it was me or an actual intruder 😅
— Kate Bassett (@kate_bassett31) July 2, 2020
6.
Got home around midnight (slightly drunk) recently, to find the alarm in my new house going off. I hadn't set it and didn't have a code. I panicked, ripped out the interior system, cut the wires and ended up leaning out the bedroom window, hitting the bell box with a shovel.
— Abster (@Abster_1983) July 2, 2020
7.
I got on a train and threw my bag on the floor. An alarm sounded up and the staff walked up and down the train inside and all the platform staff involved. Train eventually had to be evacuated and when I picked up my bag realised my rape alarm was going off
— debbiedorman (@debbiedorman11) July 2, 2020
8.
Nuclear sirens went off one morning in Coventry in the early 80s. We went into the street, saw a couple of neighbours and then put the kettle on.
— Caroline Cornell (@CarrieCornell) July 2, 2020
9.
One day I'll tell you about the time ww evacuated a whole hotel, closed the Trainline from London to the south west, closed the m25, closed the River Thames and diverted all planes coming into heathrow.
— James H (@angusprune) July 2, 2020
I think we want to know that now …. https://t.co/acMOXdLlns
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) July 2, 2020
Construction work at a hotel on the outskirts of London.
It was all a cluster, but long story short: digging a swimming pool and the JCB hit a major gas main. The sound of the gas escaping was heard miles away, and the massive cloud of gas meant everything had to be shut down.— James H (@angusprune) July 2, 2020
I was not the responsible party, btw.
— James H (@angusprune) July 2, 2020
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People are sharing the horror of mispronouncing words in public and here are 21 of the best
Source @caitlinmoran Images Pexels Screengrab