A Liverpool man who survived the Manchester Arena attack has met the "hero" he said saved his life.
Paul Price, 54, from Liverpool, lost his partner and suffered life-changing injuries himself in the blast in May 2017. Paul, who spent two weeks in a coma and eight months in hospital following the attack, said that his children would not have a father if it were not for the help of Paul Reid, a t-shirt seller, that evening.
Paul Reid, 48, one of the first on the scene after suicide bomber Salman Abedi detonated his device, stayed with Paul and kept him conscious until an ambulance arrived, reports the Mirror. In a new ITV documentary about the terror attack, Paul described how he had been waiting for his daughter Gabrielle, then 13, at the concert venue that night alongside his partner Elaine McIver.
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He said: “I know Paul doesn’t think so, but he’s a hero. I was lying on the floor dying and there were a lot of people understandably running away.
“The people paid to run into that situation were being held back so Paul shouldn’t underplay that he was running against the tide. I can’t thank him enough. He’s the reason my kids have a dad.”
Paul Reid, who has suffered from ongoing trauma since the tragedy, said: “I just tried to help in a bad situation - I’d hope someone was there to help me. It was instinctive to run in and try because I knew there’d be kids inside who were in trouble.
“The paramedic had patched Paul up, she was holding something on his stomach. I said: ‘I’ll hold that, you go and help somebody else’ and I started talking to him. I could see how badly injured Paul was, that’s why I held his hand. I tried to keep him awake and keep his mind off things because I didn’t want him to lose consciousness.
“I could tell he was a Scouser because of his accent so I asked him if he was a Red or a Blue. Then a police officer came and I said: ‘This one needs a stretcher’.”
The 54-year-old was carried out of the arena on the makeshift stretcher - with little medical equipment on hand, stretchers were instead made out of concert railings and advertising hoardings. He would spend two weeks in a coma and eight months in hospital, undergoing an estimated 30 operations for his injuries.
Price’s wounds included severe damage to his legs and hands, burns to his head and throat and the loss of hearing in his right ear. He had to learn to walk again and was left with shrapnel wounds throughout his body and nuts and bolts from the device still embedded within him.
The former production operative for a car manufacturer was advised not to meet his rescuer early on in his recovery because he had little memory of the night itself and medics feared talking to the merchandise seller might prove traumatic. But last summer, while filming for tonight’s documentary, the pair were reunited at last and say they have a special bond for life.
Paul Reid, from Walsall, said: “I tried to look for Paul in the weeks after the attack but I couldn’t find him. I wanted to meet him and find out what happened to try and get some closure for me.
“What happened at the arena has changed my life, I went into traumatic meltdown the day I left that bomb. Meeting Paul has really helped.”
The first of three reports written after the Manchester Arena Inquiry noted murderer Abedi should have been identified as a threat by arena security, highlighting “serious shortcomings” and missed opportunities in the hours before the bomb went off. Sir John Saunders’ second report, due this summer, will look at the emergency services response and a third will focus on the involvement of the security services.
Greater Manchester Police admitted at the Inquiry they had made errors on the night of the bomb. The Inquiry heard that one paramedic was at the scene for the first 45 minutes, many victims were helped by police officers and members of the public. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, meanwhile, failed to send anyone to the City Room where the blast happened for more than two hours.
Paul Reid said: “It was mad in there. The people you expected to come and help, they just didn’t come.” He added: “How did all the work and training they do not come into practice? I tried to limit watching the Inquiry every day because it did nothing for my mental health.”
Paul Price's partner Elaine was a detective constable with Cheshire Police. “That made it hurt even more,” he said. “I was so proud of her and it was so disappointing we were let down.”
Paul Price said he keeps going for his children, 25-year-old Miles and Gabrielle, who is now 18. And because he knows Elaine, 43 when she died, would want him to be happy.
“She was the love of my life and I was the love of hers,” he said. “It’s hard to think about it because it hurts so much but the memories are a blessing because that’s all I’ve got.
“Elaine was one of those people, if you met her you felt like you’d known her all your life. She would always sort people’s problems out, she was an organiser and a problem solver. She was everything to me.”
Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing premieres on ITV on Monday April 11 at 9pm. Part two will air on Thursday April 14 at 9pm.
