AN ANGRY mother has accused the College of West Anglia of robbing her son of a place at university after his course was scrapped days before it was supposed to begin.

Sebastian McCulloch-Brandt, 19, found out through Facebook that the new Motorsport Engineering foundation degree course at the Isle College, in Wisbech, had been cancelled.

His mother Elaine rang the college, who confirmed that only five students had enrolled and that the two-year course - set to start next week - would not go ahead.

Ms McCulloch-Brandt said: “My son got his letter of acceptance, he signed the form to confirm his place and on Tuesday he was told the course had been cancelled.

“I’m absolutely fuming. They said they didn’t have enough students but why didn’t they tell them earlier?

“They have robbed six students of the chance of trying to get into another university. I have tried to phone universities around the country and they are all full.

“My son’s life has just been turned upside down and it makes me sick to my stomach.”

A spokesman for COWA said the cancellation had been processed via the UCAS system and that college staff telephoned the five students on Wednesday to confirm the decision.

He said: “As of Tuesday, the course had only five confirmed students, which unfortunately is not a viable number to run the course.

“The decision to cancel was delayed until lunchtime on Tuesday to allow for additional recruitment through the UCAS clearing process.

“However, that has not materialised and, with regret, the curriculum director took the decision to cancel the course.

“It is extremely unfortunate that someone first learned of this via Facebook; this was certainly not the intention of the college and we are looking into how that came about.”

The cancellation comes after COWA bosses hailed the Isle College’s new multi-million pound technology block as a key development in helping Fenland’s young people get top jobs.

The spokesman said that all the other motorsport courses would run as planned in September and that they would offer the foundation degree course again next year - hopefully from their new technology centre.

Ms McCulloch-Brandt added: “My son had his life planned out and what about all the other students? Everybody knows that all the universities are full.

“I think they should run the course whether there’s six students or just one. They haven’t even had the manners to tell them.”