A Thirsk family who had been looking forward to spending time together on a sunshine holiday spent most of it at hospital.

Natasha Ghouri, four, did not eat for ten days and spent six of those on a drip in hospital after being infected by a stomach virus from the hotel swimming pool.

Her father, Tarek Ghouri, a governor at East Thirsk Community School has employed a lawyer to seek compensation for their ruined holiday and those of 300 other people affected.

Mr Ghouri and his wife, Nicky, of Darrowby Close, along with their son, Alexander, ten, and Natasha, had gone on a £1,600 Airtours holiday to Majorca, staying at the Alcudia Pins Hotel.

They had been there a couple of days when Natasha and Alexander stopped eating and were violently sick and had diarrhoea, and stayed in their rooms for four days.

"They couldn't even keep water down. It was alarming," said Mrs Ghouri.

In the end, both had to be taken to hospital, where Alexander was on a drip for a day and Natasha for five full days.

Concerned about their health and that of other children who were becoming sick, Mr Ghouri asked Airtours to close down the swimming pool once the problem had been identified as a parasite, cryptosporidium affecting the pool, and 70 parents arranged a meeting with holiday reps.

"When they didn't come down to meet us from their management meeting, we stormed the room and the police were called in," said Mr Ghouri. "No-one seemed to care.

"Apparently they had been told the week before of the problem but nothing had been done. At least now the pool was closed, drained and samples taken away.

"We were told nothing, given no information about what was going on around us, of what was being done to stop the virus spreading or not to spread it to other pools."

Exasperated, Mr Ghouri contacted environmental health officials back in the UK by fax for advice and called a meeting of angry parents.

A Manchester lawyer contacted by Mr Ghouri flew out to the hotel to investigate and is now acting for more than 300 people.

Airtours flew over senior people from England but none of them met the worried parents.

"Surely as a matter of courtesy they should have done so," he said.

"Several more children were hospitalised, but not one rep called to see any of them or enquired about them when they came out of hospital. Airtours should have acted much quicker once they knew of the problem and kept people informed.

"I work away a lot and we had looked forwards to this holiday, especially the children, for a long time. I am now seeking compensation for the holiday we didn't get.

"I dread to think how long the problem would have gone on had we not called in lawyers."

In a statement, an Airtours spokesman said: "Airtours puts the health and safety of holiday-makers first and our top priority was to contain the infection to what is now 12 confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis.

"As soon as we were alerted to the possibility of this, we took immediate action to protect more than 1,000 people staying at the hotel.

"We instructed the hotel, which is not owned by Airtours, to empty the pool, disinfect it and send samples for specialist analysis.

"The pool will remain closed until we are sure that it is safe to re-open, while customers are offered alternative facilities and compensation."