However, the insurance company today refuted the claim, stating the couple had failed to properly inform them about Mrs Robb’s pre-existing medical conditions, rendering the cover invalid.

Mr Robb said his wife was taken to Hospiten Sur in Playa de Las Americas on September 3, where she spent the next five days in intensive care.

The 47 year old was left paralysed down her right-hand side and all but lost the power of speech.

Mr Robb immediately contacted the couple’s travel insurance firm, Tokio Marine Europe, about the situation.

However, he was informed Mrs Robb’s insurance was invalid because she had failed to declare high-blood pressure as a pre-existing medical condition when taking out the cover.

Mr Robb said he was forced to pay a 9000 euro bill up front for his wife’s medical care at Hospiten Sur before she was discharged from the intensive care unit and taken to a larger hospital for further treatment.

Fortunately, the couple avoided a second massive bill as they were able to use their E111 card — a European state health scheme that provides medical treatment at either low or no cost.

The couple had been due to fly home after a 12-day break, but missed their scheduled flight on September 6 and did not get home until last weekend.

Mr Robb said he’d been forced to change his accommodation four times during his extended stay in Tenerife — each time incurring another charge — and he had also had to fork out for a flight that was able to accommodate his wife in a wheelchair.

He was also forced to employ a translator to help him arrange his affairs and communicate with staff at the main hospital in Santa Cruz where his wife was sent.

Mr Robb said he believed his wife’s long-term recovery had been jeopardised by the lack of care she had received in hospital in the vital days after she took ill.

He said he was also extremely angry at the lack of assistance offered to him both by his travel insurance company and the British Consular authorities in what was a crisis period for his family.

“I have no idea how I achieved getting my wife back alive — no idea at all,” Mr Robb told The Tele today.

“It was just an absolute, complete and utter nightmare. Nobody should have to go through that situation.

“The travel insurance company said we hadn’t declared a pre-existing condition — my wife’s high blood pressure — but the doctors involved said there was no pre-existing condition that led to her attack.”

Mr Robb said his wife is expected to remain in Ninewells for treatment for the foreseeable future.

“She has no movement in her leg, arm or fingers — and has the general symptoms that people look for when someone has had a stroke.

“I think she is going to be affected (long-term) by this as she is only now getting treatment and proper physio at Ninewells.”

He said he had been left shattered at what had happened to his wife and penniless by the insurance company’s failure to pay out and said “something needed to be done” to stop others facing the same fate.

He added, “I was completely and utterly abandoned and left to my own devices.”

A spokesperson for Tokio Marine Europe told the Tele the Robb’s had failed to disclose their full medical history, leaving their insurance claim invalid.

“We in Tokio Marine understand very clearly that our role as insurers is to provide prompt assistance to our insurers when required, and we strive to do so at all times. In this particular case, we were not provided with a full medical history, which is clearly requested as part of the application process and is required by us in order to decide whether or not we are able to offer full cover.”

The firm said while they were sympathetic to the couple’s plight, they were not given the adequate information required for their insurance policy.

“Had we been given the information at the time of the application, Mr & Mrs Robb would have been informed that we would not have been able to provide the full cover for which they had applied. At the very most, limited cover may have been offered, but excluding any cover relating to any existing medical conditions.”