School's head flees, leaving huge debts

Insolvency practitioners were called in when Albion Educational Services, of Bocardo House, St Michael's Street, became insolvent owing tens of thousands of pounds.

A creditors' meeting was called for last Friday, but had to be cancelled at the last minute after director Wolfgang Tomulka failed to respond to any letters sent to him.

Furious teachers, some of whom are owed thousands of pounds in wages dating back several months, told the Oxford Mail that German students had also lost money by paying fees for courses that will not take place.

One said: "The maddening thing is that he's avoiding paying his teachers, who are, like me, cheap slave labour.

"And the parents of his pupils who have paid considerable fees up front are also losing out."

He said parents of one 14-year-old Russian girl, who did not want to be named, paid £9,000 for courses before arriving in Oxford only to find the school deserted.

A spokesman for insolvency practitioners Phillips & Co, of Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, said: "It's an extraordinary situation, one I have not come across before.

"Mr Tomulka has disappeared back to Germany, where he has another business, and has simply not responded to any of our requests for information.

"It's very unusual indeed for someone to apply for voluntary liquidation and then fail to cooperate.

"It's a difficult situation because, although the school is insolvent, it's not technically in liquidation or administration - and until a meeting is called, we, as insolvency practitioners, cannot be paid either."

She recommended creditors to get together and jointly petition Mr Tomulka.

Apart from running Albion Educational Services which was set up in 1995 in Oxford, Mr Tomulka also runs a language teaching business in Munich called Euro-Internatsberatung, where he is now working.

The Oxford Mail called that company, but he failed to come to the telephone despite being asked to do so.