UH/0138

People may not be compensated for minor injuries
BY: ADRIAN MULLAN

A LOCAL solicitor has expressed concern that many people affected in one way or another by the Omagh bomb may not get compensation unless properly advised.
He said that at a meeting this week the Compensation Agency advised people that its hands were tied.
The amount of compensation for someone killed in such circumstances is £7,500 plus the sum the individual would have earned if he/she had lived to the time of retirement, plus funeral expenses and a headstone. However for persons under the age of 18, £7,500 plus funeral expenses is the full sum.
Whilst those who have received serious physical injuries should have no difficulties in terms of compensation, those who received smaller injuries may not be compensated.
The reason is that, the government, a few years ago, decided that if an injury is assessed to merit lets than one thousand pounds is not now compensated for at all.
As the situation stands at present, someone who received a cut and required stitches but is assessed to have suffered less than £1,000 worth of personal damage, will receive nothing.
Perhaps more importantly, the rules governing the payment of compensation to those who suffer shock, mean that if damage is estimated to be less than £2,500, the claimant will not receive compensation. On the other hand, for mental scars to be classified above the £2,500 mark, the injured person must have received counselling, have been seen by his/her G.P. and be undergoing a course of treatment.
The local solicitor who did not want to be named, pointed out that persons not directly caught in the bomb but nevertheless, disturbed by the scenes at the site for example, firemen, nurses, and other emergency workers, may not be entitled to any compensation. The important thing, he advises, is that people should seek proper legal advice.