Beloved comedian Peter Kay has shared a startling story from his life before fame, revealing he was caught in the middle of a violent armed robbery while working at a petrol station.
The Night of the Armed Robbery
Speaking at an In Conversation... event hosted by Sara Cox at The Lowry Theatre in Salford, which aired on BBC Radio 2, the 52-year-old funnyman detailed the terrifying incident. He described working as a cashier at an Esso garage, a job he held before his comedy career took off. On a Thursday night, while he and a colleague named Kevin Broughton were pricing tuna cans, they heard a distressed voice over the tannoy system.
"We heard this voice over - Miriam - over at Tannoy. 'Mr. Shacklady!'" Kay recalled. "And I looked at Kevin, I went, 'something's going down here.'" The pair ran to the front of the shop to find men wearing masks and carrying sawn-off shotguns. One of the raiders turned to Kay and his colleague and ordered them to get down. In a moment of shock, Kay responded, "what, you mean dance?"
Aftermath and Unpaid Wages
The comedian described the chaotic aftermath, with police swarming the scene and the manager, Brian Shacklady, announcing an early closure. The "worst bit," according to Kay, came when the staff were sent home without their pay. Despite the traumatic event, the workers had to remind their manager that it was payday. "We went 'it's Thursday night, we're supposed to get paid','' Kay said.
He recounted how a tearful Miriam from the office had to make up their wages from the remaining petty cash. The situation was so fraught that they had to recall a colleague, Anthony Gallagher, who had already left, because he was 14p short. Kay offered to cover the difference himself, saying, "'leave it, I'll give you 14p, leave it. Woman's crying'.''
Opening Up About Weight Loss and Binge Eating
During the same wide-ranging conversation, Peter Kay also spoke candidly for the first time about his dramatic weight loss and his lifelong struggle with binge eating. After a five-year absence from the public eye, Kay returned last year noticeably slimmer, sparking much public discussion.
He revealed he had "tried everything" to manage his weight, from joining Slimming World and WeightWatchers to following his mum's Rosemary Conley fitness videos. He shared a poignant moment of self-realisation, when he sneaked out of a cinema while watching a film with his wife, Susan, to buy a hotdog.
"I caught a glimpse of myself reflected in, ironically, a framed poster for Babe," he said. "I thought, look at you - what are you doing?" Despite throwing the hotdog away, he admitted he retrieved it from the bin just before it hit the liner and ate it anyway. He traced his eating habits back to childhood, recalling his mother bringing pies to him at primary school.
Kay, who recently extended his nationwide tour with new dates for 2026, has pledged that all proceeds from the shows will be donated to 12 cancer charities.
