A British man who contracted the potentially fatal legionnaires’ disease has secured a compensation payout for the pain and suffering he was caused.

David Higgs, 47, went on a last-minute holiday to Tenerife with First Choice in September 2002, the Birmingham Mail reports.

However, two days into the break, he began vomiting and hallucinating, as well as suffering from diarrhoea and a fever, after using the Orlando Club Resort hotel’s shower.

He went to hospital in Tenerife, but was told he had gastric flu and was told to rest.

Upon the family’s return, Mr Higgs’s wife Jayne took him to hospital, where he was told that he had legionnaires’ disease and could have died within 12 hours if he had not been brought in.

After he recovered, Mr Higgs fought a long legal battle with First Choice, which has now admitted liability and agreed to a five-figure out of court settlement.

"It isn’t about the money, it is about making First Choice realise they cannot brush something like this under the carpet. This is a moral victory," said Mr Higgs.

Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia caused by bacteria that can be found naturally in environmental water sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs, usually in low numbers.