A distraught dad last night urged the courts to re-think how they dealt with custody wrangles after claiming that his ex-wife - who was allowed to move to the US with their children earlier this year - had failed to comply with his holiday entitlement.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was supposed to have his two daughters for a six-week period from June 8.

However, a bitter dispute between the parents over the holiday arrangements ensued, and, as a result, he claims the mother failed to send the children to their former home in Bermuda.

Instead, the dad said she took the children on holiday with her.

In March this year, the bitter father, who had joint custody of the girls, tried to appeal the court's decision to allow his wife to move to the US, but had his request turned down.

At the time, president of the Court of Appeal Sir James Astwood questioned whether it would be in the interests of the children to allow the appeal, when they had already left Bermuda and it would take maybe three years for a final decision to be made.

The dad said now that the mother had failed to comply with the agreement, he planned to take the matter back to court.

He said: "I have been robbed of my holiday with my children, but, more than that, I have been robbed of parenthood.

"The attitude in Bermuda needs to be changed. This is why so many good fathers lose heart - everything is stacked against them.

"This is not the first time my ex-wife has broken a court order, and prevented me from seeing my children, but, in the past, the judge actually said the breaks were nothing too serious or unusual.

"However, if a father misses on his child support payments, he is incarcerated. I'm not saying I want mothers incarcerated - I simply want the law and the attitudes to be fair, not only towards dads, but children, too.

"Right now, they are not. Judges have two sets of rules - one for the mothers and one for the fathers."

The dad said he had originally planned to meet the children in Ohio and then collect them in the family camper van and drive them to his parents home in Canada.

However, he said his ex-wife demanded he pay $4,000 for the use of the van, which he could not afford.

He said he went to a lawyer, claiming that he still joint-owned the van, but was told the vehicle was out of the jurisdiction and possession was nine tenths of the law.

When his wife refused to budge on the issue, saying she wanted him to buy her out of her share of the vehicle, he said he was unable to.

The father then said he asked her to transfer the daughters' airline tickets to Bermuda, instead, so they could spend time together on the Island. But she refused.

The dad said: "This is not the first time things like this have happened. I feel the courts turn a blind eye to mothers who are in contempt of court. I don't think they know how to deal with it.

"A mother wishes to take her children off the Island and a father seems to have no rights. I am not the only one this has happened to.

"I am being prevented from seeing my children and it is wrong. The courts are helping to break up families.

"I do not have $4,000 to give her for the privilege of using my own van because I have spent so much over the years on legal fees."

The Royal Gazette tried to contact the mother several times yesterday but was unable to reach her.