A WIRRAL dad who survived the Manchester terror attack while actually standing next to the bomber has spoken a year on from the devastating event.

Robby Potter from Prenton was waiting to pick up his daughter Tegan from the Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena when Salman Abedi detonated his home-made device which killed 22 people and left more than 800 injured.

The 48-year-old was left fighting for life after his body was torn apart by two-and-a-half pounds of shrapnel.

On May 22, people from around the world will mark the first anniversary of the bombing.

Robby had been waiting in the foyer after Tegan had text him to come to pick her up but when Ariana came back on stage, he let her stay to watch the rest of the concert.

"We were waiting while parents and children came out early to miss the traffic, next thing it was the brightest light I have ever seen.

"It scorched my eyes," Robby said.

The former Oldershaw rugby player says he still has flashbacks from the night.

"There was this noise and I just remember being pushed back into people - there was nuts and bolts ricocheting everywhere, it sounded like a machine gun.

"I tried to get hold of some kids and pushed them behind me to shield them from the blast.

"That was when I saw the blood spurting from my chest.

"I shouted to the kids 'go, go, go' then I just remember falling to the floor.

"There was a pool of blood on the floor, paramedics came over to try and keep me awake, I nearly gave up.

"I muttered 'phone Tegan' to a man who came to help me and that was it."

Many people ran in to help the injured, using t-shirts from the merchandise stands to secure wounds.

Robby was carried out by nine people on the souvenir table.

He has since been told he was a millimetre away from death.

Robby told the Globe: "It has been a big fight to get fully fit again.

"With all this metal inside me I need to see what I can get out of my body. I had a piece of shrapnel lodged in my heart, the doctors said I was millimetre away from dying.

"You know he was standing right next to me, I had eye contact with him.

"I'll never say his name though. 

"I still have flashbacks but Tegan has kept me going.

"She is brilliant, not scared at all and is so supportive.

"Tegan has been the adult throughout all of this - she has even taken kids who were too scared to go to a concert after the attack to events to show they shouldn't be afraid.

"She's really been a rock, I couldn't have got through this without her."

Robby sustained serious, life-changing injuries as a result of the attack and has now been left with permanent nerve damage to his leg and foot.

Doctors removed two-and-a-half pounds of shrapnel from Robby's body, this included part of the black battery that was used to detonate the bomb.

He was in a coma for three weeks, had multiple blood transfusions and a heart operation.

"I died in the ambulance but was brought back to life, it was the ambulance driver that pleaded with them to give me a chance after I came back twice.

"The consultant surgeon at Wythenshawe had to phone Birmingham Military Hospital for advice on how to go about my heart surgery.

"After trying all sorts of physio and treatment, they've declared that they can't do anything to sort out my leg.

"I have been doing everything to fight my injuries and go against them but unfortunately nothing can be done."

Robby will attend a civic memorial service at Manchester Cathedral to commemorate one year since the attack.

"I am one of the lucky ones, I really am, I could have so easily not have been here.

"I have been invited to a ceremony in Manchester Cathedral to mark the anniversary.

"It's going to be very emotional but I have to think, I'm here. I survived.

"You know one minute I was playing rugby at my club and then the next I was dead.

"I'm so thankful for everyone who helped to save my life, it's now a battle to get back to normal."