A man who saved two children from drowning in a hotel pool is now demanding compensation after claiming his holiday was ‘ruined’.

Steven Tartt, 32, spotted the boy, 7, and girl, 6, struggling in the water at the Victoria Playa hotel in Santo Tomas, Menorca, Spain.

The dad-of-two hurdled chairs and dived into the deep end to haul the pair to safety.

Steven Tartt, 32, saved two children from drowning in a pool at the Victoria Playa hotel in Santo Tomas, Menorca, Spain (Picture: Steven Tartt/Liverpool Echo)

He has spoken out against the on-duty lifeguard, who has since been dismissed, for failing to respond to the emergency.


Mr Tartt, from Seaforth, Merseyside, said his holiday was ‘ruined’ and called on holiday firm TUI to compensate him.

Writing on social media, he said: ‘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.

‘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.

Steven Tartt, 32, said his holiday was ‘ruined’ by the incident (Picture: Steven Tartt/Liverpool Echo)

He then claimed he was told that it was his own ‘responsibility’ for choosing to jump in the pool.

Mr Tartt made an official complaint to TUI about the incident at the time but claims he heard nothing back. However, he said they did send him a bottle of sparkling wine to his hotel room as a thank you for his heroics.

Speaking this week, he said he’d been ‘fobbed off’ since asking for compensation.

He told the Liverpool Echo: ‘It ruined my holiday. I had to take a week off work, and I’m self-employed.

‘It was horrible, and it’s out of order the way they’ve [TUI] handled it.’

A TUI spokesman said they thanked him for his brave actions and had offered him counselling.

‘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),’ the spokesman said.

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