A CRIPPLED former Special Forces hero is demanding compensation from a holiday company after it failed to provide him with special facilities.

Laurence Mason, 50, of Stockton, booked an Airtours family holiday in Majorca through Travel Deals Direct.

Mr Mason has been is a wheelchair since he was caught up in an underwater explosion when he as a 26-year-old Royal Navy diver serving in the Indian Ocean.

Being a wheelchair holiday-maker, Mr Mason sent Airtours all his special requirements and paid for the £1,579 holiday three months in advance.

But despite telling the firm he was disabled, no one told him that his Palma Bay Club hotel, in Arenal, was on a hill.

He was also assured he would have an accessible bathroom and his family would have a view of the sea - but they got neither.

Airtours provided special facilities to get Mr Mason aboard a plane at Newcastle Airport, but no further help was offered to him and his wife, Catherine, and ten-year-old son, Gordon.

Mr Mason said: "It was so different when we arrived in Majorca. I couldn't get through the bathroom door in my wheelchair. I had to drag myself about on my bottom. There were no rails to help me."

Mrs Mason had to ask other holidaymakers to help them control Mr Mason's wheelchair as they went down the hill from the hotel after he burnt his hands trying to stop himself.

The wheelchair was damaged and he claims the Airtours rep failed to help him find a hire shop so he could carry on getting around on holiday.

When Mr Mason complained, he was offered another hotel and spent £40 getting there only to find it also did not have facilities for disabled guests.

A spokeswoman for Airtours said the company's customer service department was in contact with Mr Mason to try to find out what went wrong.