A fix for this issue was included in today's (7th January 2014) release of Totara 2.5.5
Best practice forum (Archived)
Issue upgrading from 2.4.14 to 2.5.3 (and 2.5.4)
Re: Issue upgrading from 2.4.14 to 2.5.3 (and 2.5.4)
A fix for this issue was included in today's (7th January 2014) release of Totara 2.5.5