Christine Tudhope and her friend Mariesha Payne (left) are receiving trauma counselling after they spent three terrifying hours ‘fully expecting to die’ trapped in a cellar at the Bataclan theatre

A British woman was personally urged by David Cameron to seek compensation over last year’s Paris attacks – only to be turned down because the Government had not declared them an act of terrorism.

Christine Tudhope and her friend Mariesha Payne are receiving trauma counselling after they spent three terrifying hours ‘fully expecting to die’ trapped in a cellar at the Bataclan theatre, where 89 people were killed by Islamic State gunmen at a rock concert last November.

But after following the Prime Minister’s advice, Ms Tudhope received an extraordinary response from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA).

Astonishingly, the authority said that it was unable to deal with her application because Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had still not decided if the attacks, which left 130 dead, were carried out by terrorists. Couched in dry officialese, the letter said: ‘The [Overseas Terrorism Compensation] Scheme only applies to an incident which the Foreign Secretary has determined a “designated act”.

‘The incident in which you sustained injury has not been designated… Your application will be held meantime, and eligibility for an award will only be considered if the incident is designated.’

Ms Tudhope, 35, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘What was it if not an act of terrorism? It demeans all those caught up in what happened in Paris. It might be just bureaucracy, but this is their response two months after the attacks. It’s made David Cameron and the Foreign Secretary look very foolish.’

Ms Tudhope said she had ‘not even considered compensation’ when she wrote to the PM on November 18.

Instead, she expressed her dismay at the lack of support she and Mrs Payne, both from Fife, received from the British Embassy in Paris. After their rescue, they were comforted by French police, but the two women say the British Embassy reacted to their plight with ‘indifference’.

An official did ring Ms Tudhope more than 24 hours after the attacks, but only to say: ‘If you aren’t injured and you’ve got your passport there is nothing we can do for you.’ Ms Tudhope, a public relations officer, said: ‘She wasn’t in the least bit sympathetic. Then she said the line was breaking up and she couldn’t hear me. Then the phone went down. I was absolutely furious.’

Mixed messages: From the top, the British Embassy's response, the Prime Minister's promise, and the CICA's letter to Ms Tudhope

Horror: Wounded people rush from the scene following the shootings at the Bataclan last year

Ms Tudhope added: ‘In my letter to Mr Cameron I said we were dismayed to be left unsupported as British citizens in a foreign country. I told him I was writing in the hope it would prevent anyone else being treated in the same way in future.’

Replying nearly three weeks later, Mr Cameron said the ‘terrorist attacks in Paris were of inconceivable horror’. He apologised for the way the women were treated and promised an investigation, saying: ‘I said immediately after the attacks that we would do everything we could to help British nationals’. He directed her to the Government’s website with details of ‘compensation schemes for which you might be eligible’. But Mrs Payne, a mother-of-two added, said: ‘Compensation won’t change what happened to us. The main thing with an event like this is you feel… like it is instant help you need. And it just wasn’t there.’

The Foreign Office said: ‘The Foreign Secretary’s approval of the designation process was a formality required under the legal process. The CICA will now take this forward.’

Last night the CICA said: ‘Two days after the application was received, the Foreign Secretary designated the Paris attack as an act of terrorism, as required under the legal process.’