FORMER soldier Leigh Price is preparing for “Doomsday” – and he says it could happen at any time.
The dad-of-three has spent years honing his survival skills and stocking up on non-perishables – but it’s not nuclear war or a Russian invasion that he fears is most imminent.
The 51-year-old, who set up the “preppers” shop Bug Out in Bulith Wells, Wales, after the chaos of the Covid pandemic, sells everything from freeze-dried tinned food lasting until 2047 to gas masks and respirators.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Leigh says the price of long-lasting tinned food soared.
However, he told The Sun: “If a full blown nuclear war happens most of the people are not going to survive.
“If you do survive it’s not going to be very pleasant.”
Instead, he believes the biggest threat facing the UK currently is “civil unrest”, which could be right around the corner in 2026 – and he says all Brits must prepare for it.
“Forget about Doomsday preparedness, that’s for the Americans or the movies, it’s more realistic things you’re going to come across,” he said.
Leigh says his children have little interest in his prepping, but “you want to make sure you can keep your family safe and warm and fed”.
He said: “The country is at breaking point.”
Leigh continued: “If you look at what’s happened, the country is not the same as it was 30 or 50 years ago.
“If you look at what the government has been doing in recent years, attacks on freedom of speech, freedom of movement…the country is at boiling point.
“It wouldn’t take much, I’m not saying civil war, but civil unrest, it could happen and it wouldn’t take much to spark it off.”
Using the example of the early days of the pandemic in 2020, he said: “People are strange, when people are panicking they’ll do desperate things, so you want to try to stay out of that situation if you can.
“It’s not a case of having underground bunkers and storing 30 or 40 years of food and countless weapons and ammunition.”
Instead, Leigh said if you live in an urban environment and suddenly there are “riots on the streets” you might be forced to lockdown for days.
If a full blown nuclear war happens most of the people are not going to survive. If you do survive it’s not going to be very pleasant.
Leigh Price,
“You need enough food and water – sometimes it’s just a case of buying extra food each time you go shopping to stockpile in a pantry or wherever,” he continued.
“I always tell people: think of the worst case scenario where the power’s gone off or there’s civil unrest and how can you combat that the best you can?”
Leigh said if things escalate even further it could mean having to flee your home.
“If there were riots and people were smashing into houses – have you got something in place where you can grab a few things and go?” he said. “That’s what they call bugging out.”
He explained, in such a situation, you’d need to “have a plan” on where you’d go.
“You’ve got to think about what you need to survive – food, water and shelter, first aid,” he said. “If you can’t carry all of that, get a water purifier – if you’re moving away from home, you’re rushing, panicking, someone might trip and hurt themselves, so you’ll need first aid, and you’ll need warm clothes.”
He added: “The main thing is where are you going? Have a plan.
“There’s no point going out there willy-nilly, you might go in the car 100 yards and it’s gridlocked.”
Asked if he has an underground bunker to flee to, Leigh said, laughing: “I wouldn’t tell you if I did.”
As well as selling survival equipment, he also runs courses showing people how to live wild if needs be, but he said it’s not like heading into the wilds of somewhere like America or Australia.
“First off, there’s no real wilderness in the UK – the country’s not that big,” he said. “If I had my gear I could go for a few weeks if I needed to.”
But, he said, ideally, you want to be able to remain indoors long-term, so having a friend’s home that’s in a safer position away from any rioting would be the best bet.
“You go camping for a couple days in bad weather, it’s c***,” Leigh explained.
“I was in the army, we used to go out for a number of days, it’s not clever, it’s not pretty, and it’s cold and miserable, not fun at all.
“Escaping to the woods, trying to live like Grizzly Adams, it might be alright for a few days but it’s a romantic idea that’s not really realistic.”
Asked if he fears war with Russia is imminent, he said there’s a good chance a world leader like Vladimir Putin could attack, but it would be unlikely to involve a nuclear strike or a land invasion, rather “cyber attack is more likely than anything”.
“If you were in charge of an army, you’re Putin, are you going to potentially try and kill hundreds of thousands of your own people, full frontal attack, or are you going to try and do something that causes maximum damage with minimal effort?
“A cyber attack, some kind of attack on the infrastructure, cutting cables in the North Sea which cuts our access to the internet or electronics, gas supplies. You’d do that.”
He continued: “I’m not saying war is not going to happen, though they are beating the war drums, NATO and Russia.
“But if you took the US or UK and shut the power off, the country would implode itself, you wouldn’t have to fire a shot.”
In which case, the prepper mentality would come in.
Living in rural Wales all of his life, Leigh is used to being cut off for days at a time without power, which has shaped his mentality.
“When I was a kid, in 1982 we had a blizzard and the town was cut off for four days and nothing could get in,” he said.
“In the 80s, people had plenty of stuff in the pantries, the cupboards were always kept full.
“We were always going round to my auntie’s because she was the only person who had gas, of course, the electric was off for four days.
“People were helping in the town, it’s a small town, people helped each other.
“Nowadays, you’ve got to just make sure you’re prepared with candles and torches, food, water, it’s a mindset.”
Leigh added: “Over the years, people tend to, especially in the bigger towns and cities, they get used to having everything delivered to the house in 10 or 15 minutes.
“That survivalist mindset has disappeared over the years.
“To me, it’s always been about common sense, but nowadays sense isn’t that common anymore, that preparedness of mind common sense approach.”
But what about weaponry?
Leigh said: “I’ve grown up with guns, having guns in the house. Hunting. Especially when I was a kid.
“Every farmer had a gun and everyone in the town had guns, and you could walk through the high street in the 80s with a shotgun on your shoulder, as long as it’s broken.
“Over the years, it’s got harder and harder to own one, get your licence, and not so many people are into shooting and hunting.
“I never thought of a gun as a weapon, it’s a tool. Same with knives. Unfortunately, people use these tools to do harmful things.
“But it’s the person who’s the problem, not the tool itself. The guns aren’t dangerous themselves, just when they’re in the hands of dangerous people.”
In terms of being a prepper, Leigh said the Covid pandemic “kicked it up a gear” and after he had to shut down his previous business for several months, he decided to set up his shop.
“I could see the way the world was turning,” he explained. “I thought I’ve got to get my preps in order, and what better way was there than opening your own shop?
“We also run survival courses as well, so if people want training, survive in the countryside, building fires, making shelters.”
Leigh said, particularly if you have a family, it’s your duty to keep them safe.
Asked if his kids are interested in his life as a prepper, he said: “No, you know what kids are like, they don’t want to justify anything their dad does, because to kids their dad’s not cool.
“They’re just like any normal kids, into modern day stuff.
“But I do take them camping, as the man, the husband, and father my job is to protect them.”
