UK bug out bag

Our friends in the US&A seem better organised than us in the UK so perhaps they can suggest what we should put in our bug out bags bearing in mind we suffer from two major problems in the UK.If it snows more than 1" we have had the wrong type of snow and that leads to total chaos.Bad accidents have the roads closed because the badly injured or killed are on You Tube before the police can inform the next of kin so we can be stuck for hours.

Let me tell you a story about sitting in that traffic.

One weekend I was off to work early in the morning. I like driving to work at the weekend as there is little on the roads. I have to travel on the M25 (London Orbital) every day, it's not much fun in the week as it is so busy.

As I get two junctions away from where I need to get off the traffic stops. Very odd, blues and two come by on the hard shoulder, oh great another crash. There I sat for one hour not moving. I put on the radio and hear there's been a crash, several motorbikes and a lorry. After some time traffic moves, the M25 is closed and we are all forced off at the next junction. I get to work 1 hour late, very annoying. Crap start to a crap day.

I do my shift and come to leave, and find the M25 is still shut! Gutted! It's takes me ages to get home as traffic is so bad.

That afternoon I cry my eyes out having received a phone call from a good friends wife telling me he had been killed that morning in that crash. I have the task of phoning friends and family to tell them the news. Something I will never forget.


Have some respect for others before making judgements.

To answer your question: snow shovel and a good book.

Essexman said:

Let me tell you a story about sitting in that traffic.

One weekend I was off to work early in the morning. I like driving to work at the weekend as there is little on the roads. I have to travel on the M25 (London Orbital) every day, it's not much fun in the week as it is so busy.

As I get two junctions away from where I need to get off the traffic stops. Very odd, blues and two come by on the hard shoulder, oh great another crash. There I sat for one hour not moving. I put on the radio and hear there's been a crash, several motorbikes and a lorry. After some time traffic moves, the M25 is closed and we are all forced off at the next junction. I get to work 1 hour late, very annoying. Crap start to a crap day.

I do my shift and come to leave, and find the M25 is still shut! Gutted! It's takes me ages to get home as traffic is so bad.

That afternoon I cry my eyes out having received a phone call from a good friends wife telling me he had been killed that morning in that crash. I have the task of phoning friends and family to tell them the news. Something I will never forget.


Have some respect for others before making judgements.

To answer your question: snow shovel and a good book.

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Nothing wrong with what i said chap,the roads are closed as it treated as a crime scene and to stop these horrific accidents being placed on You Tube or social media so what is your problem with that?

This topic is more Cafe topic than General Flashlight discussion.

It boils down down to two factors:

1) Psycology- Amongst other things, we Brits are (to massively generalise) optimistic whereas the Americans (to continue the generalisations) tend to be more pessimistic. The culture of self-sufficiency/self preservation seems to be much stronger in the States, look at the number of "Recommend me a light for my home defence assault weapon" posts that come up.

2) Need- We don't have the vast distances and/or frequent extreme weather events you get across the US, so people are 'reluctant' to spend money/thought on investing in useful skills/gear. As a nation, I also don't think we're quite as gear obsessed as they are on the other side of the pond.

Personally, I spend most of my life in the car with the current job, the 'kit' is more for day to day survival than Armageddon. Glovebox has a basic First Aid Kit, ZL SC600 with film canister diffuser, hand sanitiser, spare cigarette socket to USB charger, ML103 charger, thin PU coated gloves for all things engine/greasy/muddy, couple of cereal bars.

In the back is waterproof rucksack with waterproofs, thick fleece, beanie hat, thermal gloves, neck warmer, folding saw, Leatherman, couple more cereal bars, Fenix LD20 and a pair of boots- have you ever tried walking any kind of distance in formal shoes!? None of this 'stuff' has been bought specially for the purpose, but I feel it's more use in the car than cluttering up shelves at home.

I also have various socket sets/screwdrivers/jump leads/snow shovel/tools, but they're samples to show to clients, besides, I probably wouldn't be able to fix the car myself, that's what the RAC membership's for .

There are some great posts tailored towards UK survival on BushcraftUK.com, I really like the laid back, common sense approach from people who have a lot more field experience than I do.

Essexman: I'm sorry for your loss, it's easy to think that these things only happen to people we don't know.

sorry for your loss Essexman, i had a similar experience where i had to take a huge detour one evening on the way home only to find out the following day that my best friend was involved in the accident where he lost his mother

The topic is UK bug out bag. Please keep on topic.

Bill

I think gravelmonkey made great points. Any "preparedness" items should be geared towards likely situations. For example, I live in earthquake country, there are frequent brush and forest fires in my area, in winter we have been snowed in for a few days and the power was out for three days. In light of this, and the 38 mile distance from home to work, and my "BOB" is more involved than say a person who lived 5 miles from work and didn't have to deal with likely sudden disasters.

Many people think a BOB is for some sort of end-of-world event, but it could be as simple as having a flashlight to negotiate out of a building that doesn't have much natural light in the event of a power outage or fire. Maybe it's walking shoes because you are required to dress formally for work and if your car breaks down you'll have to hoof it for a few miles. Maybe it's that first aid kit so you might be able to do something if you come upon one of those collisions on the roadway.

I tend to take an "all hazards" approach, as that's a big part of what I've taken from my work. It does little good to focus on one specific possibility only to overlook many other possibilities that are just as, if not more likely. Look at all the likely hazards in your area and make sensible preparations with items that may apply to a variety of different circumstances.

gravelmonkey said:

This topic is more Cafe topic than General Flashlight discussion.

It boils down down to two factors:

1) Psycology- Amongst other things, we Brits are (to massively generalise) optimistic whereas the Americans (to continue the generalisations) tend to be more pessimistic. The culture of self-sufficiency/self preservation seems to be much stronger in the States, look at the number of "Recommend me a light for my home defence assault weapon" posts that come up.

2) Need- We don't have the vast distances and/or frequent extreme weather events you get across the US, so people are 'reluctant' to spend money/thought on investing in useful skills/gear. As a nation, I also don't think we're quite as gear obsessed as they are on the other side of the pond.

Click to expand...

Interesting observations about the differences between the US and the UK.

I don't know if well-stocked pantries are the norm in the UK, but given how so many choose to live logistically hand-to-mouth in the US (many choosing not to have even a few days' food onhand) I've always assumed that I would need to provide for myself in a disaster situation. I also suspect that I would be helping out my neighbors in an extreme situation that left us all immobilized in our neighborhood; due to our cultural images of "self-sufficiency" this would initially be a bit awkward all around. Would UK residents be more inclined/more able to help one another in a disaster and do they have a sense of community that would make such actions natural and reflexive?

My knowledge of UK geography is rather limited, but my impression is that the climate is generally milder than in the US where we have extreme cold, extreme heat, and some rather arid stretches. I'm also get the impression that a population center is rarely far away from much anywhere, although this might not be the case in Scotland where I gather the terrain is a good deal more rugged.



Preparation for disaster is not so much about fancy branded gear (which vendors will happily sell to you at a nice profit) so much as it is having essential supplies, tools, and mindset appropriate for whatever hazards you might reasonably face. Americans seem so much more sensitive to marketing (perhaps something to do with pessimism that was mentioned), which likely explains the prevalence of specific gear. Why buy dehydrated food, MRE's, or other long-shelf life foods when you can simply keep a buffer of canned or other dry goods around that also keep for some time. Why buy some fancy lightweight tent in case you get stranded in the boonies when a tarp and some cord will also do. Why buy a fancy high-temperature butane lighter when they still sell cheap cigarette lighters? Why buy expensive firestarters when alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel catches fire easily and burns hot long enough to start kindling (and also aids sanitation).

SoCalDep said:

I think gravelmonkey made great points. Any "preparedness" items should be geared towards likely situations. For example, I live in earthquake country, there are frequent brush and forest fires in my area, in winter we have been snowed in for a few days and the power was out for three days. In light of this, and the 38 mile distance from home to work, and my "BOB" is more involved than say a person who lived 5 miles from work and didn't have to deal with likely sudden disasters.

Many people think a BOB is for some sort of end-of-world event, but it could be as simple as having a flashlight to negotiate out of a building that doesn't have much natural light in the event of a power outage or fire. Maybe it's walking shoes because you are required to dress formally for work and if your car breaks down you'll have to hoof it for a few miles. Maybe it's that first aid kit so you might be able to do something if you come upon one of those collisions on the roadway.

I tend to take an "all hazards" approach, as that's a big part of what I've taken from my work. It does little good to focus on one specific possibility only to overlook many other possibilities that are just as, if not more likely. Look at all the likely hazards in your area and make sensible preparations with items that may apply to a variety of different circumstances.

Click to expand...

I live in a suburb of Dallas, TX - a large, semi-arid city set on the plains. I am not routinely far from people. Likely disasters are tornadoes, strong thunderstorms, flooding, and heat waves that cause extended power outages. Flooding that significantly effects me is a long shot, as are power outages lasting more than a few hours. Things could get ugly if the power were out for >24 hours across a large area during a July or August heat wave, which would debilitate the region as people ran out of gas and JIT delivery of goods to grocery stores broke down.

I generally focus on water and sanitation, keeping a good deal of water in the house and always some in the car. I have a BOB at the house in case I have to leave it unexpectedly on foot and fend for myself... it is admittedly a romantic notion and I would much prefer to chuck it into the car and leave the area that way if truly necessary.

Zombie apocalypse, Red Dawn, EMP attack that destroys the electrical grid, the inexplicable end of organized civilization ... that's nonsense "prepper" stuff and kind of pointless to worry about living in the city on an eighth of an acre where you have no territorial margins for self-sufficiency or any sort of defense.

Wow. This topic went downhill almost immediately.... I'd say that they'd be about the same contents as a U.S. BOB since despite clear cultural differences, human-beings are still human-beings as far as physical needs go. Differences would include no guns or spare ammo in the BOB itself, far more careful consideration of which knife to carry in the BOB, due to purely legal reasons. Along with extra emphasis on a quality rain poncho for the U.K. version of the BOB due to notoriously many days of rainfall compared to the U.S. (but realistically still the main contents would not change).

mcnair55 said:

If it snows more than 1" we have had the wrong type of snow and that leads to total chaos.Bad accidents have the roads closed because the badly injured or killed are on You Tube before the police can inform the next of kin so we can be stuck for hours.

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Are you asking for a stuck-in-car bag or a stuck-at-home bag?

You should definitely include an anorak.

Sounds to me like it should be stuck in a car bag.

Lol.....

:laughing: most definitely and an umbrella !!!! wind proof too :laughing:

Depending on which part of the UK you live would vary the BOB requirements ,for example a lot of houses are built on flood plains ............some very bad flooding down south this last winter.

Up in Scotland where the temperatures can drop to -20oC + of past then stocking up on necessities especially in more remote areas would be a must.

My truck is a BOT ,it usually has a tent in boot(4 man pop up) to 1st aid kit,pretty much everything apart from food within reason of course.

The UK is not on any specific quake zone,but floods are becoming more of an issue by year for many coastal areas or as mentioned flood plains .

I would presume some have BOB to an extent ..... but maybe for personal items rather than survival if makes sense.

Different cultures,different needs,the different potential of natural disasters to zombie apocalypse mind sets.

In a full on disaster then UK laws on carrying a blade of up to 2.5" and cant lock( for example) would be out of the window ...............in my case anyway.

But the one item we would more than likely have in common would be the flashlight in the bag or at least imo.

I dont right now have a BOB or can see in near distant future,if i was it would have a 1st aid kit,tins of food,bottled water,maybe flask,knives,axe,money(cash),flashlights that would use more than 1 type of cell to make it more flexible come the need.

I guess a BOB in Iceland would be different from one in Australia ,maybe the UK in general or from what or people i know just dont have a reason for one,be it cultural or not.

THIS might be more clearly written as ...

mcnair55 said:

Our friends in the US&A seem better organised than us in the UK so perhaps they can suggest what we should put in our bug out bags bearing in mind we suffer from two major problems in the UK.If it snows more than 1" we have had the wrong type of snow and that leads to total chaos.Bad accidents have the roads closed because the badly injured or killed are on You Tube before the police can inform the next of kin so we can be stuck for hours.

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"I live and work in the UK, and never heard of a BOB until a few days ago. What suggestions would you have for a winter safety driving kit? Please consider that if we, (here in the UK), get more than an inch of ice and or snow, that often results in road closings due to accidents. As a result, we may be stuck in our car for hours."


I'd like to suggest:
1. FUEL
Being stuck in traffic USUALLY isn't fun. Especially if it is HOT or COLD. Years ago, my wife and I drove in a snow storm that caused such a traffic nightmare that it took three hours to get home what is typically a 12-15 minute drive. Both gas stations on the way were closed, and I was so desperately low on fuel that I had to stop the engine each time while waiting for traffic to move. It is amazing how quickly it can get uncomfortably cold in a car without heat. I usually fill up the tank when I get just below 1/4 tank, but in the winter, a little sooner. If we are going for a drive (let's say more than 30 minutes from home), OR there is an impending storm, especially in the winter, I'll top her off between 1/2 and 3/4 tank. I never want to run out of fuel.

2. Cell Phone and charger
3. Winter clothing (hat, gloves or socks, work boots or hiking boots, spare fleece jacket/sweater etc.) Blanket or two.
4. Urinal (including toilet paper) I keep a 28 oz, plastic coffee container with a snap tight lid with half a roll of TP, hand sanitizer, plastic bags, and infant wipes in the trunk.
5. Water, snacks and a good book.

In the winter, I keep a long handled shovel in the trunk, and one or two 50' lengths of 1/2" nylon rope.

Additional safety items that should be in every car, all the time include a first aid kit, reflective triangles, and LED traffic wand/baton.

Here is a link to a winter driver safety kit discussion I started on another forum, it includes some pictures of my kit.

mcnair55 - Apologies, I took your comment about being stuck in the car for hours the wrong way. My rant was unjust, and off topic.

I tried to PM you but you seem PMs turned off.

Some very good points here about what to keep in the car. I think Ven has made a very good point, it really depends where in the UK you are.


North Wales would be quite different to Essex. I 've been on holiday in North Wales and some areas are very isolated in the hill/mountains. The idea of being stuck in the snow there would require a big bag of essentials.


Whereas here in Essex I'm never to far from a small village or town, worse case I could walk out from a snow locked car and find some help.

Little info regarding size comparisons from wiki
England has an area of approx 130,000 sq km. The US states closest to this are Mississippi at 125,000 sq km and Louisiana at 134,000 sq km.

[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, san-serif]The state of Oregon, is approx 255,000 sq km, which is close to the area of the United Kingdom (of which England is a part, along with Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) at 245,000 sq km, although Michigan is closer, at 250,000 sq km.[/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, san-serif]So the whole of the UK size wise could be compared to Oregon for example,but an island sussepotable to quite bad winters ,more so up in Scotland with recorded temps of -23oC of past.

So maybe thats why here in the UK being so small :laughing: we dont have all the different elements of tornado's etc etc (very rare and maybe a few houses a year damaged).

We pay $10 a gallon of fuel(4.56L) and around $5 a pint of beer dependent on area as there is a north/south divide(so to speak) regarding costs "northern wages and southern prices" is a well know saying............but of digression but true,it is more expensive down south......

As much as the UK does pee me off expense wise and the way its run which i wont go into as off topic,there are some beautiful places to go,lots to see be it southern or northern [/FONT]

I found Tmacks thread interesting as never heard of BOB before,actually found it odd and ott but upon understanding more(ignorance on my behalf) it makes perfect sense now

The whole scale size thing with the US blows my mind, here's a good picture showing the UK within Texas - http://sigrdrifa1.deviantart.com/art/UK-vs-Texas-205694033