Bolton family’s dream Mexico holiday ‘ruined by hotel shoot out’

Colin Nulty was lying by the pool on his family’s dream holiday in Cancun, Mexico, when moments later he heard gunshots being fired just metres away.

He and his wife “dived for cover”, hiding behind their sun loungers. Colin’s 14-year-old daughter had gone back to the room so he frantically texted her to tell her to lock the door and not to go out on the balcony.

“Chaos” broke out, he said, with “lots of screaming” and “people running in every direction”.

“It was terrifying. You could tell it was gunfire straight away. Everybody dived for cover.”

When the shooting stopped Colin, who worked in the fire service for 25 years, got up and ran to see if he could help a man lying on the ground who had been shot.

However, he quickly realised the man “was beyond any help” as he had been shot in the head and was already dead.

“At that point someone came out of the toilet just next to where his body was, and he was pointing a gun and shouting,” Colin, 41, said.

He said he sprinted back to the sun loungers and grabbed his wife and they ran down a nearby grassy embankment to take cover where a lot of other holiday makers were also hiding.

Minutes later pool staff cleared the area and the couple had to walk past the man’s body again to go back to their room.

They found their daughter there “terrified and shaking”, he said. She had heard the gunshots.

The Nulty family from Bolton had flown out to stay at the Riu Palace Costa Mujeres on 28 March, a year after Colin’s mother had died.

He had used his mother’s inheritance to fund the five-star luxury holiday in her memory.

After the shooting on 3 April the hotel went into lockdown with a helicopter circling in the sky above.

Colin said the Navy arrived quickly and they did room-to-room searches as “there were still gunmen on the loose”.

The family did not leave their room that night. “We kept the door locked. We were still scared,” he said.

The following day he said he found out from the local media it was a shootout between a cartel and undercover police.

The holiday firm TUI, who the family had booked with, organised a transfer to another hotel but there was another dramatic twist.

On a stop-off at a shop on route to the “safe” hotel, Colin said they saw on the news an “ongoing” shooting there which was also between a gang and undercover police.

They were taken back in disbelief to the Riu Palace.

He said: “We didn’t even feel safe on the roads; we felt exposed.”

The family tried to just “make the best” of the rest of the trip but he said they were “on edge” all the time and felt vulnerable.

Colin said the hotel did not increase security after the shooting and he felt anyone could have entered the complex from the beach.

He said the hotel had felt “unsafe” from the offset with people on the grounds with no wristbands who clearly “shouldn’t have been there” but they were on friendly terms with the hotel staff.

The BBC has contacted Riu for a comment.

“The holiday was a disaster from start to finish,” Colin said. “It was the holiday from hell.”

He said the experience had left his family “traumatised”.

Since returning home, Colin has been trying to recover the £7,000 costs for the getaway from TUI.

He said the company had only offered £3,940 cash and a £1000 TUI voucher as compensation.

TUI has been contacted by the BBC for comment.

“I just want a refund for what was a disastrous holiday,” Colin said.

He said he was determined to take the case to the small claims court because the holiday had been a gift from his late mother.

“I just feel we’ve been wronged in a massive way,” he added.

The Foreign Office said drug-related violence in Mexico had increased over recent years with some areas of the country having a high crime rate due to fighting between rival organised crime gangs.

It said there was a risk of being caught in the crossfire although risks were lower in tourist areas.

It advised travellers to use reputable companies and seek advice from local authorities or the hotel and be aware of your surroundings at all times.