A Dublin woman was awarded £300 yesterday for a holiday in which she and her husband were driven out of their hotel by anti-Irish taunts from football fans and into an apartment which was infested with cockroaches and smelled.
Ms Elizabeth Hickson won the award in the Small Claims Court against Budget Travel over the holiday in Majorca to celebrate her husband's birthday.
The court heard the couple, from Santry, paid £570 each for the two-week break in Palma last April.
On their second night a group of around 40 Chelsea soccer fans arrived for a match between their club and Real Majorca.
"They were shouting and banging on doors. Then they found out I was Irish and put Ulster flags out their window. They were shouting `you murdering bastards and spat at us,"' she told the court.
A bomb had gone off in London at the time and the fans started threatening them, Mrs Hickson said.
The couple asked the Budget Travel representative to be moved and were offered an apartment in Santa Ponsa, which they accepted.
Mrs Hickson said there was a sewer drain outside the window of the apartment which created a "terrible" smell inside and that the apartment was infested with cockroaches.
She said she brought the problem to the attention of the Budget Travel representative in Santa Ponsa but nothing was done.
Ms Carol Gore-Grimes, Budget Travel's customer services manager, said the holiday contract stated the operator had no responsibility for noise problems. They received no complaint about the new accommodation and had to assume they were happy with it.