by Graham Tutthill

A family from Dover are still waiting for an apology and compensation nine months after what they described as a "nightmare holiday" in Cuba.

Travel specialist law firm Irwin Mitchell have taken up the case of Lesley Glover, her partner Lloyd Beckham and Lesley’s teenage daughter Tasha-Tamara Glover, who say their stay was ruined by dirty toilets, a smell of sewage around the resort, faulty air-conditioning and food served in unhygienic conditions.

They say they spent the whole holiday, in August last year, with severe stomach upsets, and that Lesley and Tasha-Tamara were ill for some time after they returned home.

It was also claimed that Tasha-Tamara, who was then 15, suffered electric shocks from a bedside light.

"I had stayed in Cuba before and it was fine," said Mrs Glover, who lives at St Radigund’s Road. "So I thought we would all go to another hotel in the same chain on the island of Cayo Coco."

But they say it all went wrong as soon as they arrived, late at night because of a delay. Tasha-Tamara went to the toilet and the chain came off in her hand. It took four days to get it repaired.

The family asked for some water, and were given an unsealed bottle.

"Plates were dirty and chipped, the chefs were sweating and wiping their faces with their hands," said Mrs Glover.

"There was no ventilation working in the buffet area, and the food was cold. There were no glasses for the drinks, only plastic. There was a smell of sewage all the time, and some came back up through the drains in the pool area. It was horrific."

It was also claimed that Tasha-Tamara’s hands and legs were scalded when a waiter spilled hot soup over her.

"There were lots of complaints by guests. We had sickness and diarrhoea."

When they returned home, Mrs Glover was off work for a few days and Tasha-Tamara, who is studying for her GCSEs at the Girls’ Grammar School, was off for another three weeks.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook, through whom the Glovers booked the holiday, said: "We take all reports of illness and accidents very seriously so we were very concerned to hear that the Glover family had become unwell whilst they were on holiday.

"We do hope that they are now fully recovered.

"We are continuing with our investigation and are liaising with the family’s solicitors."