I'm in the process of moving schools, one province to another. It is going anything but smoothly.

To cut a long story short, I found a new position in Chengdu. Gave my notice as per my contract, which I will finish in three weeks.

The new school asked for the documents I needed. I asked my current school and the usual delaying tactics started. As I was getting nowhere, I asked my new school to contact them directly and sort it out themselves.

I was called into the office a few days ago and was told that my new school 'don't want to spend any money on you, it looks like they will have to start the application process from scratch'. Asking what they meant and after going round the houses for an answer, it appears that my current school have asked them for some fee to give the documents. Is this normal or even legal?

I called the new school and repeated what had been said and they said that 'your school are wanting us to pay to speed up the process. we don't want to do this'.

To say I am pretty livid is an understatement. I have made it clear to them that this is unacceptable, they seem to see it as a normal thing. Is there anything I can do to get them to provide the documents I need and my new school not have to succumb to their demands or is it best to just stay annoyed but silent? My worry is that my new school will just get fed up and offer the job to another candidate who doesn't come bundled with all this baggage.

Cheers JD