A FAMILY hid in terror behind sun loungers as they watched a man gunned down and killed at the poolside.
Colin Nulty, his wife, and 14-year-old daughter were looking forward to their dream holiday in Costa Mujeres, , last month.
They forked out nearly £8,000 for the two week TUI package but disaster struck shortly after arriving at the Riu Palace hotel.
Across the first couple of days, Colin noticed some “sketchy”;; characters roaming the complex, offering illegal and vapes.
Colin told The Sun: “It’s a relatively new complex, it’s supposed to be one of the best ones you can go to in Mexico with TUI.
“It was a nice first few days but there were some sketchy characters offering people drugs and vapes, which are illegal in Mexico, but they didn’t have hotel wristbands on so we were cautious of them.
“They were interacting with my daughter which I didn’t like, and demanding services from the staff like free drinks and food.
“But the staff were friendly with them it was as if they knew them.”;;
Despite being suspicious of some dodgy activity, the family tried their best to make the most of the trip.
One morning Colin and his wife were relaxing by the poolside, while their daughter chilled up in the room.
Within seconds the tranquil atmosphere was shattered by the horrifying sounds of gunshots.
Colin recalled their terror as a shoot out began just metres away from their sun loungers.
“Shooting just erupted, I heard the gunshots first and everybody just dived down straight away,”;; he said.
“We didn’t know what was happening, we were hiding behind the sunbeds, my wife was crying, she was very scared, I messaged my daughter straight away and told her to lock the door and don’t come out, go hide.
“I was thinking it could be a terrorist attack.
“After the shooting died down, I thought I might be able to help somebody.
“I’ve been in the fire service for 25 years I’ve got training in trauma care.”;;
Colin continued: “I ran to where it was, just a few metres away. There was a guy on the floor, he was very obviously dead with a gunshot to the head.
“He was in full view of us, but then a guy came out of a toilet about a metre away with a gun in his hand.
“He was screaming at me to go away, I ran back, I got my wife and we went down a grassy embankment where more people were and we took cover.
“10 minutes later the hotel staff told us to clear the area, and to do that we had to walk past this guys dead body.
“I recognised he was one of the sketchy characters. We were all locked down in our room, and told there were two gunmen still on the loose.
“When we got to the room our daughter was absolutely terrified, white as a ghost, shaking, she could hear the shots and thought it was a room to room terrorist thing.
“The helicopter was circling above the hotel and officers did room to room searches.”;;
The next day the family learned it had been part of an undercover police sting.
“The hotel didn’t even tell us, we found out about it in the papers,”;; fumed Colin.
‘ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED’
The dad-of-one praised TUI for sending reps out to the hotel so quickly.
But he slammed Riu Palace for their “blasé”;; attitude and claimed staff said “these things happen”;;.
After the horror the family were offered to stay at another Riu hotel, which they understandably refused.
They were told they could be transferred to different accommodation called The Princess Hotel.
However, in an unimaginable turn of events – disaster struck again.
“Before we even got there, we stopped at a shop and saw on the there was an ongoing incident there,”;; explained Colin.
“Someone was kidnapped, it was another undercover operation, and there was a shoot out between gang members and police.
“The man who was being kidnapped was shot dead and this is at the entrance of our new ‘safe hotel’.
“We went back to the original hotel, the TUI rep couldn’t believe it.”;;
NIGHTMARE TRIP
The traumatised family decided to stay put and get on with things at their original hotel.
Yet again, they were faced with another nightmare – in the form of an inappropriate waiter.
“We went down to the restaurant for a meal. We were leaving and then noticed our daughter was being cornered by a waiter,”;; explained the furious father.
“He was thrusting his phone into her hand and she looked really scared, she told me he was asking for her , , but she said she couldn’t get away so she gave him her .
“While I was talking to her he was messaging her, I went mental at him in the restaurant, he said ‘I live in Mexico what’s the worst that can happen’.”;;
The hotel manager sacked the employee on the spot and gave the family a free room upgrade, as well as some complimentary massages.
We didn’t feel safe, we’ve seen someone shot dead and now there’s a waiter accosting our 14-year-old daughter.”;;
Colin Nutley
But it wasn’t enough to convince the Nultys to stay.
They decided to pack their bags and fly home the next day.
“We didn’t feel safe, we’ve seen someone shot dead and now there’s a waiter accosting our 14-year-old daughter,”;; said Colin.
“After the waiter was suspended, during the night I was denied service by the staff. They wouldn’t deliver any food.
“Someone came outside our room at 2am and turned off our AC. It was a holiday from hell.”;;
After landing back in the UK, the family sought a refund and compensation.
While the TUI team accepted things had gone very wrong, they company told the family the events had been out with their control.
They refunded Colin for the eight days missed of their holiday, as well as offered compensation for the incident involving their daughter.
The total refund came to roughly £3,000, but Colin expected more.
“I thought the refund would be a given. But they said if we don’t take their offer now we wouldn’t get anything,”;; he added.
The dad-of-one told how they had also shelled out a lot of for private kennels which was ultimately wasted.
TUI was contacted for comment.
