P&O's £500,000-a-year boss is accused of being 'a modern day pirate' after ... trends now
The millionaire boss of P&O Ferries has admitted to paying workers as little as £4.87 per hour during a grilling from MPs who accused him of being 'a modern day pirate'.
Peter Hebblethwaite, the chief executive of P&O Ferries, was questioned by the Business and Trade Committee nearly two years on from a scandal which saw the ferry company lay off hundreds of staff without notice.
Mr Hebblethwaite, 53, repeatedly told MPs that P&O's workers were not being exploited despite being paid as little as £4.87 per hour but resisted calls for an independent investigation into the company's employment practices.
He said: 'We are paying considerably ahead of the international minimum standard. We believe that it is right that as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law.
'All we want is a level playing field with our competitors.'
The chief executive later admitted he could not live on £4.87 per hour.
P&O CEO Peter Hebblethwaite, who sacked 800 workers in one go, is the owner of a large farmhouse worth £1.5million
Mr Hebblethwaite, 53, repeatedly told MPs that P&O's workers were not being exploited despite being paid as little as £4.87 per hour
There was uproar and condemnation from UK government ministers and trade unions following the sacking of hundreds of British P&O Ferries staff in 2022
Mr Hebblethwaite, who has previously been described as the 'most hated man in Britain', earned £508,000 including a bonus of £183,000 last year.
Land Registry records showed Mr Hebblethwaite and his wife Honor, an interior designer, paid £1.575 million for their farmhouse in 2019.
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Plush & Opulent: Boss of P&O Ferries who sacked 800 staff at once owns sprawling £1.5million farmhouse
A sales brochure for the Victorian property described it as 'an imposing detached family house offering extensive accommodation, including a heated swimming pool and stables set in approximately six acres'.
The millionaire boss appeared before MPs two years after P&O Ferries fired 786 of its staff and replaced them with low-paid workers who are employed by an external crewing agency.
The company fired employees without notice or union consultation.
The scandal attracted widespread criticism from ministers, unions and the public.
The Insolvency Service later said it would not pursue criminal proceedings against the company, which has been owned by Dubai-based DP World since 2019.
P&O Ferries told Parliament in 2022 that they replaced sacked workers with overseas agency staff who received an average of £5.50 per
