Manchester bomb attack survivor’s heartbreak after she misses out on Ariana Grande benefit tickets for little sister because theirs were from third-party site
Hannah Housley, 23, took Grace Baker, 10, to the concert as a Christmas present
A WOMAN who survived the Manchester bomb attack with her 10-year-old step-sister is heartbroken after missing out on tickets for Sunday's benefit concert because theirs were from a third-party website.
Hannah Housley, 23, took her 10-year-old sister Grace Baker to see Ariana Grande last week as a Christmas present - her first ever concert.
The pair missed the attack by minutes because Hannah, from Hemsworth, West Yorks., had to rush to the toilet at the start of the last song, so the pair left the arena through a different exit.
After the traumatic experience, she hoped Sunday's benefit concert would help little Grace move on after the horror attack.
But Hannah was unable to register as their original tickets were bought from a third-party site.
She said she cannot face breaking Grace's heart with the news.
Hannah said: "If we can go there on Sunday it's going to help her and it will help me as well.
"I'm not going to forget about it, but it will help her to look forward to going to her next one.
"We want to be there with everyone else.
"What happened scared Grace to death. She didn't want to go at first and we sat and explained to her, everyone will be there who went."
Earlier today, Ticketmaster announced that all fans would get free tickets for Sunday’s tribute gig.
But the company through which the family got their tickets did not appear on the list of sellers fans could select when registering for the new concert.
Hannah's dad Steve bought the tickets for step-daughter Grace last year as a Christmas present.
He said: "She was absolutely buzzing about the benefit concert.
"It was a little ray of sunshine after all that darkness and horribleness.
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"We are absolutely dreading telling her she can't go.
"You can't tell a 10-year-old girl who's been through that she's going to see Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber, and then tell her she can't go."
They are desperately hoping they will be able to get tickets on general sale tomorrow, but just a limited number will be available.
Hannah said she realised her and Grace must have walked past killer Salman Abedi just moments before the attack.
She said: "We got stopped by a security guard who wasn't going to let us go down, but I said we were meeting Grace's dad, so he let us down. We must have walked straight by him.
"We'd gone 50 yards maybe and then the explosion went off. We panicked.
"I feel guilty for not going back. We didn't know [what had happened]. You just don't think."
A Ticketmaster spokeswoman said tonight she would "escalate" the situation.
She said: "We want to give all fans who were at the show, regardless of where they bought their tickets, every opportunity to register for One Love Manchester, so we extended the deadline until 10pm this evening.
"To help us verify that fans were at the show, we’re asking them to provide their booking reference and information about where they bought their ticket, including the venue box office, or primary and secondary ticketing websites.
"Unfortunately for tickets purchased through other platforms, we cannot verify these tickets. We can only suggest that you go back to the original seller and ask them to register on your behalf."
The Sun has attempted to contact the third party ticket company.
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