IT was three years ago when James Goad, having heard about the rise of the UK Independence Party, decided to sit down and see what it was all about.

Until then he'd spent most of his life not taking any serious interest in the main political parties, but felt deep down that Britain needed "a change".

The 43-year-old, who moved to Worcester in 2001 to take on an archaeological job at Worcestershire County Council, had always been a floating voter, or as he calls it "a tactical voter" and backed Tony Blair's New Labour machine in the 1997 landslide before switching to the Tories.

But he never felt at ease, particularly over Europe, where he was growing increasingly dissatisfied over the nation's loss of sovereignty around its law making and economy.

Having researched the parties, he decided UKIP was for him and was invited to pub rally with former West Midlands MEP Mike Nattrass - and the rest was history.

"I went in there, this was in 2012 and they said to me 'do you want to be a paper candidate for the (city council) elections', so I said, 'ok then'," he said.

"I only went along because I wanted to learn more about the party and get involved in discussions - the main parties tend to concentrate around the centre ground these days, and all of them have the same message on the EU.

"I looked at UKIP's policies on free market economics, having a small government, the devolving of power down to very local areas and civil liberties, and thought this was for me."

Mr Goad went out canvassing, finding himself suddenly at the heart of the party's Worcester election campaign, and stood in the St Clement ward, where he went directly up against the city council's leader Councillor Simon Geraghty.

He finished third behind the Conservatives and Labour - but it was just the start of a rapid journey which saw UKIP finish second in eight of the 11 seats it contested in last year's city council counts - with Mr Goad within 40 votes of a huge upset over Labour in Warndon.

In June last year, UKIP also grabbed three of the six West Midlands MEP seats in the European Parliament, with the seismic shift in the party's favour giving it hope it can build on its two MPs in the Commons.

Mr Goad, who was born in north Wales and went to an independent secondary school in Birkenhead, Wirral, has an interesting background.

After graduated with a degree from Birmingham University in the 1990s he launched himself into archaeology, working on digs at important historical sites around the country.

He eventually settled in Worcester after a job came up at County Hall's archaeological unit 14 years ago, and was one of those involved in the excavation for the Wyre Piddle bypass.

He jumped into consultancy work in 2005 and got a job at Halcrow, in London Road, which has since been bought by US giant CH2M HILL, a world-renowned environmental and engineering consultancy.

He now helps put input and expertise into planning applications, draws up plans for archaeological digs and as such takes a keen interest in heritage.

"It was really doing this that gave me confidence to go into other things like politics," he said.

Mr Goad is now the party's chosen one for Worcester and says he is confident of UKIP making more strong strides forward.

As the Worcester seat is on a knife-edge, with Conservative Robin Walker sitting on a 2,982 majority, UKIP's presence on the ballot sheet will be a big factor in the outcome one way or another.

Mr Goad said: "We are aiming to massively increase our share of the vote - I think we'll do much better than the Lord Ashcroft polls suggest (which had UKIP in third place with 13 per cent of the vote last month).

"Locally, looking back we had about 20 members when I first got involved, it's more than four times that now, and that's reflected across the country.

"I do think people are disenchanted by the other parties scrabbling around for the centre ground, they want an alternative."

He also says people would be wrong to believe he is automatically anti-immigration, insisting he believes the current system, which allows open doors for fellow European nations, is unfair.

Instead, he wants an Australian-style points system, which would also help in encouraging in more high-skilled people.

"I do fundamentally support immigration, I think it's a good thing but we've got to do it more carefully," he said.

"We should introduce a points based system and not an open door policy, what I want is a fair, equal way of doing things."

He also says that if elected, he'd make an EU referendum his main thrust in office, and would also call for a 'reform bill' to slash piles of legislation introduced over the last few years and de-regulate the nation.

During our interview Mr Goad started it off breathless, having just taken a pause from a big leaflet drop around the city.

And despite being motivated heavily by the nation's big questions, like his backing to pull Britain from Europe, he's also happy to get his hands dirty, engaging in strenuous litter picks in Worcester, knocking doors and doing whatever else is needed to spread the message.

But his end goal is clear.

"We are here to offer an alternative," he says. "It's time to change the way the country is going."