Holiday 'hell' compo battle for dad

Oct 10 2010 by Dan Warburton, Sunday Sun

A DAD who lost both his legs after battling meningitis has revealed how a dream getaway turned into a holiday from hell.

Michael Skee shelled out more than £2,500 to take his family away for a dream holiday in August 2008.

But his two-week stay in a Bulgarian hotel turned into a disaster after a severe stomach bug swept through their luxury holiday resort, leaving them confined to their rooms.

Michael, 49, and his wife, Sandra, 42, and their two children, Benjamin, 17, and Liam, 15, endured a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea, dirty rooms, and a lingering smell of sewage.

And now the brave father is preparing himself for a courtroom battle as he seeks compensation with the help of law firm Irwin Mitchell.

Michael, from Manor Gardens, in Wardley, Gateshead, is among a group of 276 other holidaymakers still seeking compensation more than two years after their holiday was destroyed when poor hygiene prompted mass illness to sweep through the Royal Park Hotel in Elenite, Bulgaria.

Last night, Michael said: “We arrived in the early hours of the morning and the hotel looked fantastic . . . but then we realised how awful it was.

“My sons’ beds were dirty, they were covered in graffiti and they were just sat on the floor.

“This was supposed to be a relaxing holiday but in the end it turned out to be a nightmare.”

In April 2006, after he was diagnosed with meningitis and spent weeks fighting for his life, Michael was given the grim news that surgeons would have to amputate both his legs below the knee if he was to have any chance of surviving.

Just 11 months later the brave dad amazed his family and friends when he went back to work.

The catering manager for the Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service was determined to fight back and two months after his operation, he was fitted with prosthetic limbs.