A man who saved two children from drowning in Spain has come under fire after demanding compensation for his 'ruined' holiday.
The incident unfurled when Steven Tartt, 32, from Seaforth, saw a 7-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl struggling in a swimming pool at the Victoria Playa hotel in Santo Tomas, Menorca, Spain.
In a heroic act of bravery, the dad-of-two jumped into the water and carried the kids to safety and has since slammed the on-duty lifeguard who was dismissed for failing to respond to the incident.
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Despite being commended for his actions, the ordeal has taken a bitter turn as Steven claims his holiday in June was 'ruined' and has reportedly requested compensation from holiday firm TUI.
Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, he said the firm had 'fobbed him off', and wrote online: "So [I] goes on holiday in June, 3rd day of the holiday I had to jump in and help 2 drowning children, ruined the rest of the holiday because the lifeguard wasn't doing his job.
"Also had to take an extra week off work after it affected me that much. Spoke to TUI, thought they would take some responsibility or something and at least offer something for it ruining my holiday due to the hotel they use, not hiring capable staff.
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"They have refused to take any. They won't ask the hotel to take any either as they feel it would harm the relationship with them, and lose them business and money."
On the flipside of this story, a number of Twitter users have hit back at Steven for expecting compensation. One wrote, "Why does he want compensation? Very heroic but now looking like a idiot!!" while another declared, "How sad must you be?"
Meanwhile, another tweeter wrote: "On what grounds does he merit compensation? He has performed a heroic act and deserves praise... that's it."
The holiday-maker reportedly did make a complaint to TUI at the time but has claimed he received no reply, although the company did send a bottle of sparkling wine to his room for the good deed.
He's also hit back at the negative comments, stating he didn't ask for compensation and that he simply 'wanted something back for the holiday I had paid good money for to relax for a week'.
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A TUI spokesperson has since thanked Steven for his actions and has offered help: "We're sorry to hear that he's unhappy not to have received compensation, as we felt the most appropriate support we could provide would be to offer free access to our independent partner the Centre for Crisis Psychology (CCP)."
Whatever your take on the matter, it looks like the dramatics from this holiday-gone-wrong are not over just yet. Here's hoping it all gets sorted and the dust settles soon.
Featured Image Credit: Liverpool EchoTopics: hero, News, travel, Spain, Twitter, UK, Holiday