A MAN tortured by memories of agonising surgery has joined a North-East campaign to persuade holidaymakers to boycott Greece.

Nigel Race said his treatment by Greek hospital staff during what should have been routine surgeryon a cut wrist was a nightmare.

Mr Race, from Chester-le-Street, has never had an explanation or apology from Greek authorities.

He has joined forces with the parents of another Chester-le-Street man, Chris Rochester, who died in a Greek hospital last year, along with North Durham MP Kevan Jones and MEP Stephen Hughes, to urge holidaymakers to boycott Greece.

Mr Race, 30, said: "I had only been on Rhodes Island for two hours when I tripped up and cut my hand badly on a wine bottle.

"When I eventually got to Rhodes Hospital the doctor in the operating theatre said: 'I haven't got time to let the anaesthetic work - this is gonna hurt, a lot.' They cut my wrist open further and started pulling my broken tendons."

He claims he was then sent to the Greek mainland - to Athens' main hospital - because Rhodes didn't have a surgeon or the equipment to carry out the operation properly.

"In the ambulance to the airport we stopped to pick up a guy after a bike accident. He 'died' twice on the way and had to be resusitated.

Of his arrival at Athens he said: "There were people with arms and legs hanging off in the corridor - all from car crashes. One guy had his leg amputated in front of me, then the bloody tools were wheeled past me on a trolley. It was a vision of hell."

At one point a Greek Orthodox priest read him his last rites before he was finally operated on - by a Greek doctor who had trained at Shotley Bridge Hospital.

Mr Race needed corrective surgery on the wrist when he arrived back in the UK. MEP Stephen Hughes described Mr Race's ordeal as 'horrific.'

l Chris Rochester's parents continue their campaign to boycott Greece at 2pm in Durham's Market Place on Saturday