Brexit ‘prepper’ course teaches how to survive no deal by eating dog food and fighting off rioters

Dozens sign up for £250 weekend showing how to cope with breakdown of civil society after 29 March (although course itself doesn’t start until April)

First there were the warnings: if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal, supermarket shelves could go empty, medicines may run out, civil unrest might explode.

Then came the Brexit Box: an emergency chest created by a Leeds entrepreneur containing 60 freeze-dried meals and a fire starter, and sold to those so concerned a no-deal divorce might end in a minor apocalypse, they were willing to shell out £295 for such a bit of kit. Don’t laugh. Some 800 people have already bought one.

Now comes the survival course.

A special weekend to be held at the government-backed Emergency Planning College, in North Yorkshire, will teach attendees how to cope if Brexit all goes a bit Armageddon.

Dealing with prolonged food shortages, surviving mass blackouts, and emergency first aid will all be taught by a team of eight field-specific experts. So too will unarmed combat, self-defence and urban foraging – just in case law and order breaks down.

“Some people have said this stuff won’t happen – and perhaps they’re right,” Tom Linden, the survival expert behind the course, tells The Independent. “But I would say supermarkets are stockpiling food, the NHS has created contingency plans for medicine shortages and the army has been put on standby. So, if these institutions are preparing for the worst, what do they know the rest of us don’t? Maybe we should be preparing too.”

Among the advice to be dished out on the course – set to include a combination of classroom and outdoor lessons – is that dog food is actually edible for human consumption in emergencies; and a candle and a ceramic plant pot can be turned into an effective makeshift heater.

“Which is useful to know anyway,” says Tom. “You never know when that will come in handy.”

Other key sections will be devoted to teaching attendees exactly what foods – and how – they should stockpile in advance of exit day, how to live for prolonged periods without electricity or running water, and what to do in the case of a terrorist attack.

Hang on. Terrorist attack? Caused by Brexit?

“We’re being told a no-deal would reduce the UK’s security so, of course, this is something that needs to be considered,” reckons Tom.

The 62-year-old is, for the avoidance of doubt, a self-confessed “prepper”.

At the height of the Cold War, he spent 12 years as an NCO with the Royal Observer Corps, a TA-style branch of the RAF responsible for helping coordinate contingency plans in the case of nuclear attack. For another four years, he worked with North Yorkshire County Council as a community defence adviser. Then, in the 90s, he wrote and published the widely praised manual, The Complete Nuclear Survival Guide.

As we speak in a Sheffield café today, there sits, outside, in the boot of his car an emergency food box, wind-up torch and water purifier. He’s not brought these along to demonstrate lessons the upcoming course will offer. Rather, he just carries them everywhere.

“You never know when disaster will happen,” he says. “Or, in this case, those are all quite useful to have in a breakdown too.”

The Brexit survival weekend was actually born out of a quarterly course the retired delivery driver runs on nuclear survival. During those sessions, attendees are taught how to build shelters, deal with extreme weather, light fires and generally survive during the predicted mass breakdown of civil society that would follow a nuclear attack.

But, sensing public unease about Brexit, the grandfather-of-five tweaked the main lessons and created the new course to deal with issues that might occur post-29 March. And that, he absolutely insists, is neither opportunistic nor scaremongering.

James Blake, the Leeds entrepreneur who created the Brexit Box (Reuters)

“Not at all,” he says. “The fear’s already there because of people – Remainers and experts, mainly – constantly telling us how bad things might be. I’m offering people a way to ease those worries because I’m an expert in planning for worst-case scenarios. If there are food shortages – and we’re being told there will be – I’m saying you don’t need to worry as long as you take time to prepare beforehand.”

After just a few days on sale, half the available places – costing a not inconsiderable £250 for the two days – have already sold. Although, it should be said, that’s only 25 people.

Perhaps it would have been more, admits Tom, but some may have been put off by the course’s dates: 13-14 April. Which is to say, a fortnight after Brexit day.

“Well, two reasons for that,” he says. “Firstly, I don’t believe there’s any chance – deal or no deal – we will leave the EU on 29 March. And secondly, that was the earliest I could book the facilities at the EPC for anyway.”

He reflects on this a second: “Perhaps that’s one occasion where I wasn’t quite prepared enough.”

As for Tom himself, ironically enough, he voted Leave.

“I love Europe and its people – I’ve been all across it as a driver,” he says. “But I don’t believe the EU is a democratic institution. It’s unaccountable. I want decisions about Britain to be made in Britain by people who have been voted for. If getting that power back means some disruption, that’s a price worth paying.”

For more information, visit ukpreppersradionetwork.co.uk