Compensation payment to London blast victims to begin |
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Published
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Wed, 28 Sep 2005 06:05
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LONDON: Britain will pay compensation to all the victims of the July 7 terrorist attacks in the next 10 days, according to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).
The announcement comes in the wake of Prime minister Tony Blair's assurance to those injured and to those whose relatives were killed in the bombings that he would personally investigate the delay in compensation payments. He had also said the payments would be made in the next couple of weeks. Several severely injured and maimed victims were apprehensive that the payment would take months to materialise.
The CICA said it has some 180 applications seeking compensation. It follows a procedure of police verifications and medical reports after an application is received. It confirmed that it has received a set of police reports and it will start making interim payments. The maximum amount payable under the scheme is 500,000 pounds.
The CICA came into being in 1964 to coordinate compensation payments to victims of violent crime, but it is for the first time that it had to handle claims of such a colossal nature. It has a 9 million pound fund at its disposal.
Blair intervened after relatives of the 52 people killed in the blasts complained that they had not received any compensation and some said they are living on charity. Besides the killings the four bombings caused injuries to hundreds of people who were travelling by the Tube and a bus.
One typical case is that of Martine Wright, 32, who lost both her legs in the Aldgate blast. Even after three excruciating months of hospitalisation, surgeries and physiotherapy for fitting metal prosthetic legs, she has received just 6000 pounds as interim grant from the CICA. She has lost her job that earned her 40,000 pounds a year, and she is now saddled with huge medical care bills, expenses on account of house adaptations and extra support and transport costs. However, she is hopeful the CICA will effect the payment sooner than later.
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