Holiday hell as double amputee mugged in lift

Kirsten Battle, from Wakefield, who suffers from spina bifida, booked the £1,500 all-inclusive week’s holiday to Ibiza with her son Matthew as a treat after enduring four operations over two years which left her with no legs.

But during the trip a stranger, thought to be another British holidaymaker, verbally and physically assaulted her in an elevator and told her she should “go back to her nursing home”.

The man tipped her out of her wheelchair, leaving her unconscious on the floor for 20 minutes.

Ms Battle, 39, later went to a cash machine and discovered her attacker had taken her cash cards and money.

She claims when she tried to report the attack to hotel staff they refused to call the police, telling her to “go to bed and get some sleep and forget it happened”.

Ms Battle is now taking legal action against tour operator Thomson, which she says had moved her from her booked accommodation to the hotel where she was attacked.

“It has ruined my life, I am now afraid to go out in case anyone is behind me,” she said. “I get scared all the time and have to have people with me.

“They spent more time trying to cover up what had happened than help me. I didn’t even get a sorry from the rep. It was a nightmare.”

Ms Battle arrived at the Hotel Miami in the resort of Es Canar at the start of her holiday in August to discover her specially adapted room had been double-booked.

Ms Battle and her son were moved to Hotel Hawaii in San Antonio, an hour’s journey away, and found the facilities were worse. And as she made her way to get some extra pillows she was verbally abused by a stranger in the lift.

She said: “He was very rude and aggressive. He told me to get back to my nursing home. But I ignored him as I have had abuse all my life so I wheeled past him and got into the lift and he stepped out.”

The man came back into the lift, however, and continued his abuse and started shaking Ms Battle’s wheelchair before tipping her onto the floor, where she lost consciousness.

She added: “I didn’t wake up until around 20 minutes later and I felt a pain in my hips as the door was opening and closing on me. A Spanish person came and got me and helped into my chair and I noticed the blood and they pointed to my head.”

Ms Battle says she then went downstairs to reception to report what had happened, but instead of helping her staff went out of their way to cover up what happened.

“I said I wanted an ambulance and warned other guests there was a dodgy man around. They told me to go to bed as I was upsetting the other guests. I later asked them to ring the cops but they refused and said the CCTV had been deleted. They went out of their way to be nasty to me.”

The following morning she tried again to get staff to call police and they refused. Instead she was given a taxi back to her original hotel. She was met by a representative from Thomson who she claims tried to put her off from contacting the police.

Nick Harris, a travel law specialist at Simpson Millar Solicitors, said: “Kirsten’s holiday experience beggars belief. She was completely let down by her tour operator from start to finish. Her experience highlights the unacceptable prejudice which holiday service providers should be doing much more to stamp out.”

A spokeswoman for Thomson said: “We are sorry to hear of Ms Battle’s holiday experience in Ibiza. We have been in touch with her and have offered her a full refund as a gesture of goodwill.

“Thomson and First Choice take hundreds of customers with varying special assistance needs on holiday each year without incident.

“Our overseas team and customer welfare team are highly trained and did everything possible to assist Ms Battle.”