Drunken teacher in hotel room brawl

A Swedish school teacher was treated for concussion at a Warsaw hospital at the weekend after getting into a drunken hotel room brawl with a Swedish heavy metal band.

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The teacher was staying at the hotel with 23 pupils and seven colleagues on the first leg of a school trip to Auschwitz, regional newspaper Värmlands Folkblad reports.

The teacher, who works at a school in the western town of Karlstad, met the band in the hotel bar after his pupils had gone to bed.

News of the teacher's escapade has filtered back to Per Uppman, head of Karlstad's local education authority.

"The Swedish embassy has given us a synopsis of the Polish police investigation, which stated that the teacher had been drinking alcohol with a rock band in their hotel room," he told Värmlands Folkblad.

When the bar closed and the band announced that they planned to continue the party in their room, the teacher asked if he could join them.

"He told us not to tell anybody he was drinking because he was was still at work," a band member told Värmlands Folkblad.

Up in the hotel room the teacher and the band shared a few beers and listened to some music.

"It was very pleasant," said a band member.

But soon the night took a turn for the worse when the teacher had a few too many and began insulting the band. After he had managed to upset a few people the teacher was asked to leave the room.

Had he not begun banging on the band's door a simple hangover might have been the only consequence of his wild night in the Polish capital. When a band member opened the door he found the teacher standing in the corridor.

"He stumbled towards me and I pushed him out of the way. Then he lost his balance and collapsed right into a concrete wall," said the band member.

Security guards arrived on the scene and took the teacher back to his room. When his colleagues found him there next morning they decided he should go to hospital.

The use of alcohol on trips of this kind is strictly prohibited and the teacher risks losing his job when he returns to Sweden.

"If the information we have received is true the teacher has displayed an incredible lack of judgment. We are going to confront him with this when he gets home and begin labour law proceedings," said Per Uppman.

The band member involved was arrested in connection with the incident later in the day. He secured his release by signing a document in which he admitted to assaulting the teacher.

"If I hadn't signed I would have been kept in custody for one to three months. I was scared and shattered and just wanted to go home," he said.

On Wednesday he was handed a six month suspended sentence and a €500 fine.

The teacher claims to remember nothing of the evening except that he was assaulted.