A FAMILY from Linthwaite have finally received compensation – four years after “a holiday in hell”.
The couple, their daughter and two grandchildren fell ill to a sickness bug while staying at a Spanish resort.
But they and dozens of other holidaymakers have had to battle through a legal minefield to finally win compensation.
The group of 69 British holidaymakers, whose trips to Spain during 2007 and 2008 were ruined as many suffered severe gastric illness, have won their battle for justice after travel law experts Irwin Mitchell secured a settlement of over £200,000 on their behalf.
Tour operator TUI UK Limited and The Globespan Group PLC, now in administration, agreed to settle the cases just a fortnight before a 10-day trial of the cases was due to start at Birmingham County Court, ending the holidaymakers fight for justice.
The tourists all stayed at the Beach Club Hotel, Torremolinos, between September 2007 and August 2008, where 60 out of the 69 taking action suffered from symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps.
The bug left some guests hospitalised and others needing assistance from the hotel doctor. Eight of the holidaymakers are still suffering from conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome to this day.
The Linthwaite couple, who do not want to be named, stayed at the hotel with their daughter, now 37, and their grandchildren now aged 11 and seven.
The grandmother said: “I had seen reports on the internet about the sickness bug some weeks before we were due to go and rang the holiday company many times, asking them to switch us to another place.
