Manchester Arena survivor still hasn't received compensation six years after life-changing injuries

A survivor of the Manchester Arena attack says she's not received a single penny in compensation from the government, five-and-a-half years after suffering life-changing injuries.

Lisa Bridgett, from the Llŷn Peninsula in North Wales, was waiting to meet her 17-year-old daughter Ashleigh outside the venue at the end of the Ariana Grande concert when she found herself stood just metres away from suicide bomber Salman Abedi as he detonated his device.

Ashleigh and her friend were thankfully physically unharmed as they were still inside the main auditorium at the time. However, Lisa was left with a steel nut from the bomb embedded in her nose, which has caused scarring and lifelong breathing difficulties.

The bolt had initially hit her phone, which she was using at the time, damaging a finger on her left hand so badly it had to be amputated. She also suffered a broken right ankle.

Like hundreds in attendance that night, Lisa has also been left carrying the mental scars related to what happened too, having being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Distress Order (PTSD), saying "even the safest place in the world no longer feels safe."

Yet, despite all she's suffered, she's been offered less than £20,000 in compensation from the government, through its Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme, which is responsible for making awards to victims of crime and terror attacks.

Almost half of those who've made claims have not been offered compensation at all. Figures published last year revealed that out of 741 applications for compensation relating to physical and mental injuries suffered as a result of the terror attack, 331 did not result in a financial award - meaning 45% of claims had been rejected.

Compensation offer 'disgusting'

Lisa describes the offer made to her as 'an insult' and says it is 'disgusting' that families who lost loved ones, and injured survivors, have been offered 'scraps of help'.

"I think it’s appalling. Like most others, the only help I have had over the past five-and-a-half years has been through the public donations and the initial fundraising events after the attack.

"We had that tremendous help and support from the public initially, but I’ve not had a penny from the government, or anyone else involved who let us down that night.

"That initial fundraising helped us so much, but for many, who have not been able to work or return to anywhere near a normal life since, that money will be long gone.

"I’ve been unable to bring myself to accept the offer made to me by the CICA so far as I feel it’s simply an insult. It’s like offering scraps of help.

"It’s all done by working to a spreadsheet and a table of payments dependent upon the physical and psychological injury suffered. How can that be right?

"They give you 100% of the set award for what they class as your first injury, 30% for your second injury and then 15% for your third injury.

"They have offered me £13,500 for mental injuries, which they have classed as not lasting for more than five years, £3,300 for my broken ankle as the second injury and £550 for the loss of my finger as the third injury.

"It’s a joke. I simply don’t think it reflects the suffering of all from that night. I’ve been left always looking over my shoulder, untrusting, unable to breath properly, and unable to type having lost a finger.

"Not a day goes by when you don’t think back to what happened.

"They’ve given me a deadline to accept the offer in April or then it is taken off the table. I think it’s a terrible way to treat people who have been through so much."

‘You never move on, you live with it’

Looking ahead, Lisa, who owns a boat business near Abersoch, North Wales, says each and every person who was injured as a result of the bombing has deserved better.

"You never recover and you never move on, it’s always there, you live with it," she said.

"Ashleigh never talks about it, but I know she has blamed herself for what happened as we were there for her. It has affected her but she can’t talk about it.

"You can be in the safest place in the world, and you don’t feel confident it’s safe anymore.

"I’ve had to do my best to learn to live with the fact that I was there, and with what happened to me. Everyone else is the same.

"I’m fortunate in that I was able to get back to work at my own business, but for many they have not been able to work again, left with even more serious injuries, and of course lost loved ones.

"For it to go beyond six years to compensate people is appalling, and even then we are having to fight for people to take responsibility."

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