European School of English Limited has filed a judicial protest against the Marina Hotel in Sliema, claiming that 56 Czech language students had complained about mouldy food and cockroaches in their rooms.

The school said it had to pay international operators €15,000 in compensation to the students after they had to stay in "horrible conditions".

The students also complained about broken furniture and that their personal belongings were placed in garbage bags and moved from room to room without prior notice.

The language school said it had initially reached a settlement with the hotel and the hotel agreed to knock off the sum from an outstanding bill.

However, after the hotel owners realised that the school was not giving them business anymore they brought up the issue of the ‘outstanding €15,000' and had a warrant issued against the operator and the school, freezing €56,884.

The school said that this was clear abuse of the justice system, adding that the hotel had taken action simply to be vindictive. The hotel was also trying to play the victim and had told the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association that the school had still not paid the money due, the school said.

It called on the hotel to withdrawn the warrant to freeze the money and held it responsible for damages.