The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is trialling a new emergency text messaging service, Travel Weekly has reported.
The free service will alert travellers if a major crisis occurs in the country they are in, and will also provide them with essential advice on what to do in such a situation.
It is initially being trialled on Vodafone UK customers, however it is hoped that if the trial is successful, the service will be rolled out on other mobile networks.
Jeremy Browne, Foreign Office Minister, commented, “The recent consular crises in Egypt, Libya and Japan have demonstrated the need to deliver live travel safety messages to as many people as quickly as possible.”
He continued, “The pilot is part of the Foreign Office’s commitment to improve consular services.
“We will soon have the ability to send text messages to all affected British nationals registered on our crisis database.”