Five months after the Mumbai terror attack, 29-year-old Will Pike, who was injured in the attack and faces a lifetime in a wheelchair, feels “let down” and has accused the UK Foreign Office of neglecting Britons who fall victims to terror attacks abroad.
It is now that Pike felt strong enough to talk about his “nightmare” and his terrible sense of abandonment by many of the institutions he had hoped would help.
This has led to politicians from all parties calling for compensation for UK citizens who have been injured or disabled in terror attacks. Pike has to cope with just £15,000 from a government-backed Red Cross fund.
Like others, Pike returned home to find he was not covered by the compensation scheme set up after the July 7, 2005, London bombings to help all victims of terror attacks, of whichever nationality, on UK soil. He said he felt terribly “let down”, at a time when he had hoped the government would show condolence and care.
Pike, along with girlfriend Kelly Doyle, had checked in for a night at the Taj Mahal hotel at the end of a two-week holiday in Goa when the terrorists attacked Mumbai last November.