A ROADIE touring with one of the biggest metal bands in the world has spoken out after getting caught up in the disruption caused by the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that devastated Japan.

Calvin Roffey, of Shefford, was on the road with the multi-million selling Bullet For My Valentine and was due to work on two Tokyo shows the group was booked to play with Iron Maiden.

The band had just finished a series of festival slots in Australia and the crew had flown out ahead of the band, arriving in Japan on Friday morning.

The 27-year-old said: “We flew out before the band because we needed to be there for meetings and things like that.

“Then Matt Tuck’s, the singer for Bullet For My Valentine, girlfriend flew out to see Tokyo and Matt, she arrived early and I said I would spend time with her that day.”

The duo headed out to do some sightseeing and headed to Ueno Zoo and had just stepped out of the taxi when the quake hit the nation’s capital.

“There was a rumbling sound and people started running out of the subway screaming,” said Mr Roffey.

“The ground was shaking and the building opposite us was shaking too, we looked up and thought the lamppost was going to come down.

“It was scary, but for me personally it wasn’t the most scary thing.

“We carried on to the zoo and we were unaware what a big deal it was, we just thought we had been in an earthquake.”

Mr Roffey, who is also a keen musician, only discovered the magnitude of the natural disaster when he got back to his hotel in the Shinjuku district of the city.

However, due to the disruption the guitar tech and his companion had to walk eight miles back to the Hilton as the subway had been shut.

He said: “The next two days we saw how it affected the country and especially with Japan being the country it is.

“They dealt with it in a very dignified way but there was no-one who wasn’t worried or upset. If it had happened over here there would be panic.”

Aftershocks continued to affect the capital with Mr Roffey at one point having to be cut into his room after the vibrations flicked the lock on his door.

Over 3,000 people are confirmed to have been killed by the quake and tsunami that followed, with the additional fear of a nuclear disaster looming over the country.

As a result of the carnage the two shows were cancelled and Mr Roffey flew back to the UK on Monday.

“I’ve never been so glad to see Heathrow,” he said.