'I play cricket - it doesn't mean my leg's grown back!' Amputee has benefits cut after he is filmed playing
A Telford dad who lost a leg as a child has said he has lost his Motability car and disability benefits, after the DWP filmed him playing cricket.
Shaun Rigby, of Brookside, was involved in a tractor accident when he was just two that resulted in him losing his leg below the knee.
The 37-year-old father of four works full-time as a sheet metal worker, and has been in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) since 2016 due to his disability. Three years ago he was given a Motability car to help him get around.
He said: “I was reviewed in 2016 via a home visit, during which the assessor said 'what am I doing here? Your leg will never grow back. You will get this for life'.
“He also said that if my circumstances change, which they did, to request new forms for the enhanced mobility.
“About two years later I got the car, after I felt changes in the pain in my knee as well as pain I was getting in my back.”
Shaun is a keen cricketer, having taken up the sport in his youth, and has even played for the England disabled cricket team, but he says after the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) found out he played the sport, they filmed him and used it as evidence to take away his car and stop his PIP benefits.
He said: “I've worked since I left school and played cricket since I was seven but he things I could do now are a lot less than 15 to 20 years ago as I've deteriorated quite a lot. I am on co-codamol, amitriptyline and naproxen prescribed from my GP which I take moderately day-to-day to help ease the pain, and get me through work.
“On a cricket day I take more medication in the morning to help me through the day and make the pain more tolerable. I am still in pain but felt that some sort of activity and interaction with friends was good for my own wellbeing.
“On bad days I play cricket with a runner when batting and in the field, I'd be in positions where moving was limited and, if needed, the umpire would hold the crutch for me. The days after I played cricket are quite bad, but I played for the social side of things, and my attitude to life is to try doing things I enjoy whilst I still can.
“But they have said I should not have any of it because I play cricket; they have footage of me playing.
“But just because I play cricket doesn't mean my leg has grown back. I still need help getting around.”
Shaun was informed of the Department of Work and Pension's decision in a letter on Monday (June 16), which told him “he was never eligible for the benefit” and the government body is now attempting to claw back the money.
He has been given 30 days to appeal.
“It is so unfair just because I play cricket. Are disabled people not allowed to take part in sport?" he said. “I'm at a loose end now. Everyone's telling me to appeal but it has all taken so much out of me, i don't think I can face it.”
The Department of Work and Pensions told the Shropshire Star it could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
But a spokesperson added: "Where someone disagrees with an overpayment decision, they should request a mandatory reconsideration or an appeal."
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