AN angry holidaymaker who had a disastrous time with Alvechurch Boat Centres has lashed out at the company's response to his complaints.

Paul Wilson, who comes from Essex, rented a canal boat from Anderton Marina earlier in the year only to have his holiday mood sorely tested by a catalogue of mishaps.

Over the course of a week on the boat, there were disasters ranging from no shower head in the bathroom and a disconnected fridge which put the family's food at risk of spoiling, to the boat's engine overheating.

As an experienced canal cruiser, Mr Wilson wrote a strongly worded letter to the company detailing the below-par condition of the boat and the series of faults they had experienced.

A letter and personal apology from Edward Helps, the managing director of Alvechurch Boat Centres, said that the faults had been rectified.

But Mr Wilson was dissatisfied that instead of being offered a monetary refund for the holiday, the company was only willing to offer money off any future holiday the Wilson family should choose to take with them.

Mr Wilson, annoyed at what he called the "gall" the company showed in offering him a further trip, said: "They should be offering compensation for the lousy first trip."

Tracey Secker, customer services manager for the company, said: "Every boat has a full winter maintenance taken on it and they are also independently inspected by Visit Britain.

"With any complaint about the standard of our boats a full investigation is carried out between myself, my operations manager and the local business.

"With respect to a lot of the issues raised, we've done our own investigation in anticipation of Mr Wilson coming back to us, but he's not been back since April and we've had no other correspondence with him."