A HIGH-flying Winchester tech firm is at the centre of a legal battle between its directors and former chief executive, who claims that he was ousted in a boardroom coup.

Imaginatik founder Mark Turrell has launched a claim for constructive dismissal and called for a general meeting of shareholders to axe two directors and get himself reinstated.

Mr Turrell, 40, left the AIM-listed Colden Common firm by mutual agreement in June but has filed a £102,500 compensation claim with a Southampton employment tribunal, alleging that he was effectively forced out.

He has called for the removal of chairman Matt Cooper and chief financial officer Shawn Taylor, and wants shareholders to vote for him to be reinstated as a director.

He claims that the pair have breached their duties as directors.

Both sides have instigated legal action.

Mr Turrell started the firm in 1994 and took it public four years ago. He is its biggest shareholder, with a 35 per cent stake.

An Imaginatik spokesman declined to comment on the dispute, but in a statement the firm said that it was taking legal advice over the validity of Mr Turrell’s request for a general meeting.

The statement added that the company was “confident” that if Mr Turrell’s resolutions were required to be put to shareholders they would be defeated, and it regarded his request as an “unnecessary distraction and a waste of the company’s resources”.

Imaginatik, which provides software consultancy services, was last year named as one of the fastest-growing technology companies across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The firm counts Boeing, Goodyear, Xerox and Pfizer among its clients.