The growing business of prepping

**David Harper** (0:00)
Hello, I'm David Harper. And today on Business Daily, what would you do if the worst happened?
A massive power cut hit Spain and Portugal. The blackout caused chaos, crippling transport systems.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:12)
Q soon formed in front of ATMs, as once again cash became the only...

**SPEAKER_3** (0:16)
People are left sitting at home with no food or water and no way of getting information about what to do.

**David Harper** (0:22)
In the last few years, we've seen major conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, a major power cut in Spain and Portugal, and the COVID pandemic across the world make people feel that bit less secure. Ordinary citizens now see the benefit of keeping a reserve of supplies and tools on hand, and that's given a big boost to some businesses.
So has being a prepper now become mainstream, and with some seriously expensive products being sold for doomsday, has it become survival of the richest?

**Tom Blakey** (0:51)
Hi there everyone, welcome to the Bug Out in Bilth Wells, and welcome to the Prepper and Bug Out course. My name's Tom, I'm ex-parachute regiment, I've served for 25 years, and I've seen what can actually happen when things go bad.

**David Harper** (1:02)
Well, we're better to find out than in the middle of nowhere. In a forest deep in the middle of Wales, I caught up with Tom Blakey. He's a survival expert and an instructor on the UK's only Bug Out course, a term used by those in the know for surviving out in the open if things have turned bad and you can't stay at home.

**Tom Blakey** (1:21)
We'll do a live Bug Out and live outdoors overnight in a scenario based exercise.

**David Harper** (1:26)
Just explain to me for a moment the concept of bugging out.

**Tom Blakey** (1:30)
The whole idea of bugging out is if where you are, whether it's at home or in a workplace or something like that, becomes untenable for any reason, you need to basically escape to survive basically. So if there was social unrest that was so bad that there was smashing up cars set fire to houses or if there was a terrorist attack or a natural disaster like a wildfire or something, then it's the idea of escaping to somewhere safer with enough gear on you to at least survive for a couple of days.

**David Harper** (1:56)
Have you seen interest growing in this lately?

**Tom Blakey** (1:59)
Absolutely, yeah. As a result of what's happening in this country and around the world, there is definitely an uptake in people wanting to take responsibility for their own safety and for their families as well.

**David Harper** (2:10)
Is there anything in particular that has spurred people to want to do this?

**Tom Blakey** (2:13)
I think everyone's got their own kind of take on it. I think, though, with what's happening in Ukraine and now in Iran, there's having a really big effect on people's mindset and thinking of are they safe enough and have they done enough to look after their families.

**David Harper** (2:27)
And Tom's courses aren't the only reason you might want to head into this hidden patch of mid Wales. If you're serious about being ready for anything, you'll want to head to the Bugout shop too. They've got everything you need to ride out Armageddon, whatever your budget.

**Lee Price** (2:41)
I'm Lee Price and I'm the owner of the Bugout shop, which is a one stop shop for anything you need for outdoors and survival. My son said to me years ago when I first opened the shop, he said, if this is the end of the world, this is the place I want to come.

**David Harper** (2:52)
Tell us a little bit more about the survival and preparedness market. What sort of things do people buy if they're interested in that?

**Lee Price** (2:58)
With the preparedness side of it, it's mainly water filters, long life food. With survival, it's more like the outdoor survival gear. So that's like the camping equipment and tools. So it's a broad range.

**David Harper** (3:08)
We've been looking at how this has come from being a very specialist thing, more into the mainstream. Have you seen a change in the sort of people that come here?

**Lee Price** (3:16)
Obviously a lot more people are interested in it now. And again, it's a broad range of people. It could be just someone in the house in the middle of the city, to someone in a little of a homestead in the countryside.

**David Harper** (3:28)
Is it expensive? Do you have to spend a lot of money to be properly prepared?