THE Foreign Office said last night it was doing everything it could to help the family of a North-East pensioner who is lying ill in a Spanish hospital.

Former Japanese PoW Bernard Boyle suffered a suspected heart attack while on holiday in Benidorm with his wife Marjorie.

His family are facing the prospect of huge medical bills for his treatment because the couple, from Middlesbrough, were not covered by their insurance policy.

Mr Boyle, 81, was due to have an operation to fit a permanent pacemaker yesterday at a private hospital in Benidorm.

Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman said: "Our consul staff are in contact with Mr Boyle's daughter, Maria, who is in Spain, and the tour operator Airtours.

"We are doing everything we can to help these people."

The couple's holiday insurance was invalidated when they failed to include details of Mr Boyle's medical history.

The insurance company, Ketteridge, has denied that it has failed to help the Boyles.

Their son, Brendan, a planning officer at Darlington Borough Council, claimed he asked the company to underwrite his father's medical costs until they got back to the UK, but they refused.

Ketteridge said it had not "removed itself from the situation" and was trying to assist the family.

Julie Wilson, manager of the Hays Travel branch in Middlesbrough, where the Boyles booked their holiday, said they sympathised with their plight.

But she said they had signed a form indicating they understood the policy and they had been made aware of all its exclusions.