Jewellery stolen in 'holiday hell'

But the dream turned sour when the theft of precious jewellery on the second night of the trip - while Tanya and her family slept in the same room - turned their stay in the Dominican Republic into a holiday from hell.

After the theft, at the Casa Del Mar hotel on the isl-and's south-east coast, Tanya says staff did nothing when asked to call police.

And the next morning Tanya, her husband Derek Tart, 48, and daughter Shannon, 11, from Treeton, Rotherham, were forced to go to the authorities alone.

Tanya, aged 42, lost a pair of white gold rings with diamonds and a matching diamond bracelet and ring in the theft, which occurred in the early hours.

She said: "My daughter woke up screaming at around 3am, but it wasn't clear what had startled her so we told her to go back to sleep.

"But when I got up about 45 minutes later I found the door to the room was ajar, and my jewellery had been taken.

"The hotel managers wouldn't help us, and they said the machine that recorded which swipe-card had opened our door was broken."

She added: "None of us could sleep for the rest of the holiday and my daughter kept bursting into tears. Now she says she never wants to go on holiday again."

A spokesman for tour operator First Choice confirmed the family had written in with details of their complaint.

Ian Benjafield said: "We have responded by letter to acknowledge receipt of the correspondence and assure the couple we will fully investigate their grievances, and get back to them with a suitable response as soon as we can."

Tanya says the family was left traumatised by their experiences but were un-able to get a flight home early. When they were eventually offered a room in another hotel they were made to pay a surplus charge.

The family had enjoyed a previous stay at the Casa Del Mar in 2004.

Now Tanya says she is furious at the treatment she and her family received from hotel staff and from First Choice.

"Security at the hotel used to be excellent but this time round it was minimal," she said.

"We weren't able to speak to a First Choice rep until the next day, and to move to another hotel we had to pay 140.

"We've been back over a week and we've had nothing more than a verbal apology."

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