Peter Kay has revealed the dramatic moment he was caught up in an armed raid after men swarmed a petrol station where he worked.
The comedian, 52, has shared insight into some of the unlikely roles he had before his huge comedy success, including a job at an Esso garage.
Peter surprised fans when he returned to the spotlight last year sporting a much slimmer frame following a five-year absence, and earlier this week he shed light on his weight loss.
The funnyman recently extended his nationwide tour for a string of new dates in 2026, and shared that all of the proceeds from the shows would be donated to 12 cancer charities.
Speaking during an In Conversation… event hosted by Sara Cox at The Lowry Theatre in Salford, which aired on BBC Radio 2 on Monday, Peter shared that one day while working as a cashier, men armed with shotguns and masks stormed the station.
He said: ‘I worked at Esso garage as a cashier. No one wants to buy petrol. It used to be awful, people used to be so aggressive. You’d drive around on fumes if you could.’
Peter Kay has revealed the dramatic moment he was caught up in an armed raid after men swarmed a petrol station where he worked
The comedian has shared insight into some of the unlikely roles he had before his huge comedy success (pictured on stage), including a job at an Esso garage.
Poking fun at the role, he said: ‘They used to come in and say ”have you seen these prices?” I thought, I’m not an oil baron.
‘They used to throw the wage packets at me. ”Here you are.” Brown wage packets. You used to have to take staple out and pay. And then, um, cash and carry.’
He then went on to detail the night the raid took place, confessing: ‘I were in an arm raid, I were. On a Thursday night, I were pricing up tuna fish with Kevin Broughton.
‘And we heard this voice over tannoy. Our manager were called Mr. Shacklady. Brian Shacklady.
‘And we heard this voice over – Miriam – over at Tannoy. ‘Mr. Shacklady!’ And I looked at Kevin, I went, ”something’s going down here.”
‘And we ran round into pop aisle and there were some lads at front with sawn off shotguns and masks on.
‘This bloke turned to me, he said, me and Kevin, he went, ”you two get down”. And I said, ”what, you mean dance?”.’
‘It was like, shock. You know, out of body. I thought about it after, because I got home later, and Tomorrow’s World were on, and I was sobbing, because it were delayed shock, Thursday night, and we got paid.’
Speaking during an In Conversation… event hosted by Sara Cox, Peter shared that one day while working as a cashier, men armed with shotguns and masks stormed the station
Peter went onto describe the ‘worst bit’ of the ordeal, saying: ‘Oh, police came. Mr. Shacklady came on the tannoy. ”We’re shutting now early, you can see what’s going on.’ We all had to go, and police come, and it were all swarming.’
‘Anyway, we all come out, and all lads were stood at reception, and they said ”we’re going to close early lads. Thanks for tonight, do appreciate it but you see what’s happened and I can’t thank you enough.”
‘And we all stood there. He went ”like I said lads, thanks again”. We went ”it’s Thursday night, we’re supposed to get paid”.’
He said his boss replied: ”Surely you can see, boys, what’s gone on tonight? I mean, we’ve been robbed.”
‘And we’re like, ”no, but my mum wants her keep. I mean, like, we’ve got bills and things.” Ended up getting Miriam, sobbing, making our wages up out of petty cash, what she had left.
‘And then we had to drag Anthony Gallagher back because he were 14p short. I said, ”leave it, I’ll give you 14P, leave it. Woman’s crying”.’
During the same conversation, Peter opened up about his dramatic weight loss for the first time after years of ‘trying everything’ amid his lifelong battle with binge eating.
The funnyman revealed he’d tried everything from slimming groups, gym sessions to his mum’s Rosemary Conley keep fit videos in a desperate bid to get a grip on his weight.
He said: ‘I tried everything. Good God in heaven. I mean, you go to flaming weight-loss groups and stuff like that. I joined Slimming World and WeightWatchers. I did all of them.’
He also reflected on the key moment that made him realise he had a binge eating problem after sneaking out of the cinema where he was watching a film with his wife Susan.
Peter described how he lied about going to the toilet only to leave the screening to eat a hotdog: ‘I was doing really well with this diet, but I’m so bad with willpower. I had this hotdog and I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in, ironically, a framed poster for Babe.
‘I thought, look at you – what are you doing? You’re doing really well on this diet, you should be ashamed of yourself.’
He added that as he threw it into the bin he grabbed it back just before it hit the binliner and still ate it.
Peter went on to explain that his bad eating habits date back to when he was a child – with his mother bringing him in pies to primary school for him to eat.
