SICK holidaymaker Martin Hartwell is recovering from an operation after being flown home by air ambulance.

Mr Hartwell, 46, of Saxton Road, Abingdon, is now being treated at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

Earlier his relatives made a door-to-door collection to try and raise £6,500 to fly him home from Ibiza, after he suffered an angina attack and his insurance company refused to cover the cost.

The company, Norman Insurance of Reading, has now changed its mind and agreed to pay the bill.

Mr Hartwell's uncle, Derek Nutt, of Stonhouse Crescent, Radley, told the Oxford Mail: "The operation he had on Saturday was to insert a balloon into his artery, which inflates and keeps the artery open.

"Doctors have taken photos of the work they did and If it has been successful, that is the end of the story."

If the surgery was not fully successful, Mr Hartwell may have to have a heart bypass, his uncle added. Mr Hartwell suffered the angina attack half way through his week's holiday and had to go to a local hospital.

He spent a week in a clinic in Ibiza, running up a bill of more than £1,500.

Mr Nutt has that amount towards his nephew's medical costs and is now hoping the insurance company will reimburse him.

Doctors said Mr Hartwell was unfit to fly home without medical supervision - and the air ambulance cost £6,500.

Norman Insurance originally argued Mr Hartwell's cover was invalid because he suffered the same medical problem before he went on holiday.

But his family produced a doctor's note saying treatment he had previously received in England was not linked to his holiday attack.

He went to Ibiza with a cousin and two friends who paid for the trip to cheer him up after his medical problems and a recent divorce.

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