NEWLYWEDS Ian and Debbie Woodward were left devastated this week when their dream honeymoon in Barbados was cancelled at short notice as the ferocious Hurricane Ivan stormed towards the Caribbean island (writes Steve Sowden).

Ian and Debbie were married on Saturday at the Vicarage Street Methodist Church in Yeovil and following their reception and party at the Westland Leisure Complex the happy couple were all excited about their holiday.

The Yeovil couple had already heard stories about the threat of a hurricane because of the terrible weather experienced in Florida in recent weeks. But as they had not been told anything officially about question marks being placed against their holiday in the sun they were still looking forward to their romantic honeymoon away with bags packed and passports ready.

But it was not until less than 24 hours before they were due to fly out to the Caribbean from Gatwick Airport on Tuesday morning - that they were told the bad news.

And now the couple are angry at how the lines of communication between the various holiday firms involved in their honeymoon plans had been at odds with one another.

Ian said: "Even though I'm sure we will still go on honeymoon at some point, things have fallen flat after our wonderful wedding day. The honeymoon has been a complete cock-up."

He was taking his mother-in-law back home to Cornwall on Monday following the wedding and she told him she had heard something about Hurricane Ivan on the early morning news.

In an effort to find out news Ian tried to phone Virgin Holidays but he was put on answer-machine for about 40 minutes waiting unsuccessfully to get some information.

Then at about 11am on Monday they received information from Virgin Atlantic Flights, who they were booked to fly with, that all flights to the Caribbean were cancelled.

But despite several desperate phone calls Virgin Holidays still ensured the couple that their holiday was still on and that they should travel up to their overnight stop at Gatwick before flying out the next day.

Ian stormed: "Even when I told them I'd heard the flight had been cancelled, they said I shouldn't have been given that information."

Ian and Debbie, now confused as to whether their honeymoon was on or off, decided to do some investigations for themselves and phoned Virgin Atlantic to see if they could book a flight to the Caribbean for that day. And they were told that all flights had been cancelled due to the pending hurricane.

"We just didn't know whether we were coming or going," he said. "It was all very upsetting and not the sort of start to married life we'd been planning."

The couple's next step was to call their travel agents, Instant Holidays, who informed them that they had not been told of any cancellations.

But then at just after 4pm they were finally told the news that they had already feared - their honeymoon was off.

Ian said: "I appreciate hurricanes do happen and there isn't a lot Virgin can do about them. But the lines of communication between the various organisations were terrible. For about five hours I'd been told our flight had been cancelled, yet nobody was prepared to confirm it."

And Ian said: "We were told we could either have our money back or rebook for another time at 'no extra cost' which I think was a bit of a cheek and what you could call the icing on the wedding cake."

A spokesman for Virgin Holidays said: "We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and disappointment this situation has caused, please be assured we are doing our utmost to get everyone away as soon as possible.

"We are currently offering customers the option of postponing or amending their holiday, subject to availability and change in holiday costs. Alternatively the option to hold monies for a future Virgin Holiday can be arranged."