A mum compensated with just £550 for losing a finger in the Manchester Arena bombing says she's yet to receive a penny.
Lisa Bridgett's middle finger had to be amputated when the phone she was speaking on to her daughter she was collecting was hit by shrapnel following the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017.
The 50-year-old was standing five metres away from bomber Salman Abedi when he detonated the explosive which killed 22 people and injured hundreds more.
As well as losing her finger, Lisa was also hit by a steel nut which became embedded in her nose, leaving her scarred and with lifelong breathing difficulties, and suffered a broken right ankle.
Thankfully, her daughter Ashleigh, then 17, was still inside the main arena hall at the time and so wasn't hit, North Wales Live reports.
Now nearly six years on from the terror attack, Lisa says she is still carrying mental scars and has been diagnosed with PTSD.
The mum from Gwynedd, North Wales, says she was offered just £550 in compensation, and has yet to see a penny of the money.
She was initially awarded £17,350 for her life-changing injuries by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme – but she rejected the offer as a "joke".
"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."
Lisa slammed the offer saying it didn't reflect the severity of what she went through that night.
She added: "I’ve been left always looking over my shoulder, untrusting, unable to breathe properly, and unable to type having lost a finger.
"Not a day goes by when you don’t think back to what happened."
Initially, Lisa, who is managing director of a local boat company, received support through public donations and fundraising events which she described as a "tremendous help".
But for those unable to work or return to normality, the money will be long gone, she said.
Lisa claimed the Government had a duty to support Arena victims, "or anyone else involved who let us down that night".
"They’ve given me a deadline to accept the offer in April or it will be taken off the table.
"I think it’s a terrible way to treat people who have been through so much.
"Had we all been injured by an airplane falling from the sky we would all have had significant compensation and support to help us.
"Somebody would have been held responsible.
"As yet nobody has been held responsible and that needs to change, as it was entirely preventable. The Inquiry highlighted just how poor the security was."
It comes ahead of the latest set of findings from the Manchester Arena Inquiry due to be published on Thursday.
The probe meanwhile has found MI5 had been aware of Abedi as far back as 2014, and the service is expected to face fresh criticism for potentially missed opportunities in this week's latest report.
“You can be in the safest place in the world, and you don’t feel confident it’s safe anymore," Lisa added.
"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."
