Man who spent £50,000 on WWIII bunker plans to splash out another £10k on it | News UK

A dad who spent £50k building an underground bunker is planning to spend another £10k to upgrade it in case World War Three breaks out.

Dave Billings, 44, began the project at his Derbyshire home more than a decade ago, inspired by the film The Great Escape.

But with tensions rising in the Middle East, he’s decided to prep the shelter to become a place of survival, but warned it won’t be ‘nuclear-proof’.

Dad-of-one Dave, who lives with his wife Beth and their seven-year-old son Oliver, said the goal is to have a secure underground space for his family if things take a turn for the worse.

He said: ‘With the way things are changing, I’m prepping it to be more of a survival place. It won’t necessarily be nuclear-proof, but if you need to hide away, you’ll be able to survive.’

Dave, an engineer and content creator, estimates he’s so far spent around £50,000 on the bunker, which started as a disused well.

A 35ft tunnel now leads into a multi-room facility, which measures 140ft in total, and features a handcrafted Great Escape tunnel, gym, toilet, sink, and even a beer lift disguised as a keg to carry drinks down to the bunker.

The upgrade will consist of food supply, air filtration, water supply and blast doors.

Dave said, ‘I’m going to have to have emergency supplies of food. I’m going to guarantee a source of water. I think the idea is to make a water filtration unit so we can safely use the well water.

‘I want to make blast doors in the bunker so if a big explosion went off outside, it would hold the door shut better. As long as you’ve got food, you can stay here indefinitely.’

Dave compared his shelter to a hideaway, like Anderson shelters in World War Two: ‘People think we’re going to get a direct hit, but I’m in the middle of nowhere, it’s not really somewhere you get a bomb, is it?’

While he doesn’t claim to be a ‘prepper’ – people who stockpile in case of disasters or wars – Dave said the recent government warnings made him realise how far ahead he is in terms of readiness.

‘When I saw it on the news and it said you’ve got to be prepared for war, I thought, ‘What are you preparing for? Because having somewhere underground with a food supply where you can lock yourself in is quite prepared, really,’ he said.

Despite the serious upgrades, Dave says he’s still figuring it out as he goes and doesn’t have a ‘big plan’.

He’s suggested that others prepare a supply of food to keep in their home, because if things were to go wrong, ‘there isn’t a shop’.

On his advice to others, he suggested preparing a supply of food to keep in your house ready.

‘If people have got to stay in their houses, you’ve got to be prepared. Have enough stuff in your house to last you two or three weeks if you can’t go out the door. It’s always better to be a bit prepared.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

MORE: I’ve been preparing for nuclear war all my life – this time it’s different

MORE: Why radio is still the ultimate survival tool in war and emergencies

MORE: Map shows safest countries to be in if global conflict breaks out