P&O Ferries' 'month from hell'

What a difference a month can make.

Once an uncontroversial British cross-Channel ferry service, P&O Ferries appears to have dramatically fallen from grace in just several weeks.

And as its European Causeway vessel drifted out to sea for more than an hour last week, it appeared to be a fitting metaphor for the ferry operator's current troubles: Adrift.

The P&O Ferries drama began with the mass layoff of hundreds of experienced seafarers and their replacement with untrained £5.50-an-hour agency workers on March 17. But it has seen mass protests by furious workers, weeks of gridlock on the roads to the Port of Dover, and unions and politicians of the Left and Right effectively hand-in-hand demanding retribution.

And for many, beleaguered CEO Peter Hebblethwaite became not just the lightning rod or symbol of the perceived injustice meted out, but its very embodiment.

At the most intense stage of the scandal, the millionaire told MPs while giving testimony at a committee session in the House of Commons that the company had broken the law by sacking the staff without consulting trade unions. His unwillingness to answer whether he could live on the £5.50 an hour he was paying the new workers was just too much for some MPs to stomach. 

So just how did P&O Ferries end up in this position of crisis?

MARCH 17: P&O SACKS NEARLY 800 SEAFARERS VIA ZOOM AND CANCELS UPCOMING SERVICES

For the 786 turning up to work on March 17, they could hardly have suspected that they would soon be without a job.

Indeed, just four months earlier, a company promo video proudly highlighted the benefits of working at P&O, declaring: 'It's not just a job, it's a career... It's family.' 

But in an online Zoom call at 10.30am that Thursday morning, staff were stunned to discover they were all being made redundant with immediate effect.

A senior executive explained to staff that the company's financial situation was less than ideal. P&O Ferries Holdings had lost nearly £39million in 2019 and in 2020, when Covid first broke out and prompted governments to impose unprecedented curbs, it lost nearly £86million.

That day, the company said that losses for 2021 had increased to an extraordinary £100million, and - though they losses were covered by its parent company DP World - they were 'clearly not sustainable in the future' and that nearly 800 seafarers would be put out of work.

They would be replaced by a 'third party crew provider', which turned out to be £5.50-an-hour foreign agency workers.

Also announcing that sailings would be suspended 'for the next few days', the executive told staff: 'As you may be aware the business has been struggling financially for the last few years and has lost around £100million each year for the last two years.

'Whilst these losses have been covered by P&O Ferries' parent company, DP World, it's clearly not sustainable in the future. The business cannot continue to operate like this so it has had to consider a range of different options in order to drastically reduce costs.

'These circumstances have resulted in a very difficult but necessary decision to restructure P&O Ferries' workforce and operations in order to protect the future of the business. This was only taken after seriously considering all available options. The company has made the decision that its vessels going forward will be primarily crewed by a third party crew provider.

'Therefore I'm sorry to inform you that this means your employment is terminated with immediate effect on the grounds of redundancy. Your final day of employment is today.'

MARCH 17: PROTESTS BREAK OUT AND DEFIANT P&O STAFF REFUSE TO LEAVE THE DOCKS

Just hours after P&O Ferries announced the mass redundancies, hundreds of sacked staff held protests and refused to disembark ships at ports in Dover, Hull and Northern Ireland.

Dutchman Eugene Favier, the captain of The Pride of Hull, sealed himself and his 141-strong crew inside the huge vessel using maritime law, refusing to let anyone aboard.

Agency workers had already been waiting at docksides ready to board the ferries, but P&O Ferries was left red-faced after its existing employees refused to leave the docks over the firm's decision.

To help force its staff to disembark, P&O Ferries allegedly 'illegally' hired 16 handcuff-trained officers from a private security firm, with the company telling them the job would last a week and be paid at £14.50 an hour.

Emails sent to security guards drafted in beforehand showed bosses describing a 'fairly high profile task' to be dealt with over the course of a week in Dover. Those enlisted were told to bring 'cuffs and utility belts' but were informed they would 'not need body armour for this task'.

The crew of the Pride of Hull eventually left the ship after the standoff came to an end at around 6pm that day.

Dozens of employees gathered outside the union's Dover office ahead of a protest where fired ferry workers, armed with banners and flags saying 'Stop the P&O Ferries jobs carve up', clashed with motorists after blocking a road close to the port of Dover.

A lorry driver trying to enter the port began shouting and beeping at those in the road, before being told 'we're not moving'.

One of the protesters, who had worked for the company for decades, later said: 'I refuse to move from this road, all this service for nothing. The police will have to take me away.' 

MARCH 17-18: MINISTERS DEMAND TO KNOW WHY P&O SACKED 800 SEAFARERS ON THE SPOT

In the immediate aftermath of the scandal, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps took aim at P&O Ferries in a scathing letter sent after the sudden sacking of 800 crew members while Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng slammed the firm for axing staff after taking 'millions of pounds in furlough payments'.

Mr Shapps said the company had only let a 'very small group' of officials know about the decision the night before, meaning it was 'far too late' for the Government to intervene.

He said he had instructed the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to carry out inspections of all P&O Ferries vessels before they return to sea to check the new crews the company has 'rushed through' are safe. 

Mr Kwarteng said the way staff were treated was 'appalling' and that P&O Ferries had 'lost the trust of the public' and given the business a 'bad name'.

However, both letters were addressed to P&O Ferries chairman Robert Woods who, according to company records, resigned from the role on December 21. It is understood Mr Woods was still listed as chairman on the company website. Mr Shapps and Mr Kwarteng then wrote letters to the actual chairman, ITV News reported.

In the letter addressed to Mr Woods, and initially posted to Twitter, Mr Shapps said: 'Following the Maritime Minister's call with your company yesterday, I am writing to express my anger and disappointment about the action that P&O took yesterday to make 800 seafarers redundant without notice and without consultation.

'The lack of engagement, of prior notice, or of any empathy whatsoever for your workers that P&O demonstrated yesterday was completely unacceptable.

'Seafarers make a huge contribution to this country, and many have dedicated years of service to P&O, and I was frankly staggered yesterday at the way you dismissed them with zero respect.

'While I accept this was a commercial decision for P&O to take, I was also deeply concerned at the way in which this decision was communicated to the Government.

'Although I understand you told a very small group of officials the evening before the announcement, this was clearly far too late for the Government to engage in something you had obviously been planning for some time and were determined to force through.'

MARCH 17-22: P&O FERRIES IS ACCUSED OF LAW-BREAKING AS CHAOS AT PORTS CONTINUES

For the next week, the news was split between Putin's illegal war in Ukraine and the furious denunciations of P&O Ferries' illegal decision to lay off hundreds of workers without notice. 

Meanwhile, chaos erupted at UK ports with aid prevented from reaching Ukrainians and lorry drivers left waiting for hours.

As well as running passenger services, the company is a major freight carrier on the crucial Dover to Calais route. This handles a third of the goods trade between Britain and the EU, including large amounts of perishable food.

A lorry driver trying to enter the port began shouting and beeping at those in the road, before being told 'We're not moving'. Another driver, Richard Gamby, said: 'I understand what they're doing but I want to get home - I've been up since four.'

'Tory hating' union members turned on Dover's Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke when she came out to support them over P&O Ferries' 'jobs massacre'.

Mrs Elphicke even held a 'save Britain's ferries' banner at the event with Labour's hard-left former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and amid calls for the Dubai-owned business to hand back their £10million furlough cash, she said: 'We supported them with furlough and they should be backing Britain and backing Dover'.

But when she began speaking on TV about the sackings being 'devastating' for the Kent town, union activists started screaming: 'We hate Tories, we are the Tory haters', 'shame on you', 'you're on their side' and 'you voted for fire and rehire', forcing her to abandon her interview.

One protester confronted her saying: 'Tory anti-union laws allow bosses to get away with this'. The Conservative MP replied: 'Nonsense, it's bad business behaviour' before she walked off as others yelled in her face.

The picket then marched on the docks, where police are parked at the entrance to the freight terminal and three P&O ferries - Pride Of Canterbury, Pride of Kent and Spirit of Britain - all remain docked. There appeared to be agency staff already working on the ships with security guarding the gangplanks. There were also protests in Hull, attended by Ed Miliband, as well as in Liverpool and Belfast, where police guarded the ports as union members called for ministers to 'sink P&O' by nationalising it.

RMT organiser for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Gaz Jackson said the crew were 'absolutely devastated' and described P&O Ferries's actions as 'unacceptable' and 'unforgivable'.

He told reporters at King George Dock in Hull: 'I got a phone call at 8am saying something was going to happen at P&O Ferries, I got on board and spoke to the captain and we said we've got to lift the gangway until we've got an agreement.

'At 11am ratings and officers were informed there was going to be a pre-recorded Zoom meeting. After that two to three-minute call all the crew were made redundant.'

Labour urged the Government to publish the legal advice it has received on whether P&O Ferries broke the law when it laid off staff.

In response, Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden voiced 'revulsion' at the firm's 'sharp practices' saying it had displayed no 'empathy whatsoever' towards workers.  He stressed that the Government is looking at whether the abrupt sackings were legal and reviewing contracts with the company.

In a round of broadcast interviews from Blackpool - where the Tories are holding their Spring conference - Mr Dowden said of P&O Ferries: 'I think they should be in no doubt that the Government is considering very closely its relationship with them.'

He told Times Radio the Government was trying to establish whether the mass sacking was legal.

'That is why the Transport Secretary (Grant Shapps) has asked the Insolvency Service to look at the notification requirements, for example, and see whether further action is appropriate,' Mr Dowden said.

'All of us feel, frankly, a revulsion at the kind of sharp practices from P&O.  There has been a complete lack of engagement, a lack of prior notice or indeed any empathy whatsoever for the workers.' 

Mr Shapps urged Britons to 'vote with their feet' and avoid P&O Ferries. He told the House of Commons: 'I expect many customers, passengers and freight will quite frankly wish to vote with their feet and where possible choose another operator'.

The minister was joined in his condemnation of the scandal-hit ferry operator by his opposite number, shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh, who said that the minister should 'immediately begin criminal action' against the firm.

Ms Haigh said that the firm felt it could act 'with impunity when it comes to respecting our employment rights'.

Business Minister Paul Scully told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: 'If they have flouted the notification law where they are supposed to tell the Secretary of State when they are going to make more than a hundred people redundant, then there are criminal sanctions involved in that, including an unlimited fine.

'We have reserved the right to approach the prosecuting authorities should that be the right thing to do.'

Mr Scully said Mr Shapps was reviewing all Government contracts and dealings with the company and its owners, DP World, adding: 'They need to realise that the relationship between the companies and the Government has changed as a result of their absolutely callous [conduct]'.

Asked if that could include a £25million subsidy to DP World to help develop London Gateway as a freeport, he replied: 'We will look into all of these things as part of this.'

Conservative peer Baroness Roz Altman added: 'I think what P&O Ferries have done is absolutely disgraceful. 

'I feel so sorry for those 800 seamen who were loyal to P&O who were sacked by video, escorted of their ships, no warning, and I think that the Government should think very carefully about forcing the employer to behave better, and if that means that they have to impose any kind of sanctions or warnings to them, I think that would be entirely appropriate.'

Northern Ireland's Economy Minister Gordon Lyons described the sacking of the 800 P&O workers as 'disgraceful'.

In a statement to the Assembly, Mr Lyons said: 'At the outset let me be clear; neither I, as a constituency representative in East Antrim or as Minister of the Economy, nor my officials in the department, were afforded the courtesy of advanced notice of the P&O announcement. 

'I regard their actions as disgraceful. P&O has literally ripped up the employment rule book, and, in the process, simply discarded 800 of their loyal and most diligent workforce. Even now, I can scarcely believe how callously they behaved.

'I understand that there could be up to 50 staff from Northern Ireland directly impacted by this announcement. Many of us in East Antrim know some of the workforce.

'The stories I heard of staff being escorted off ships, by men in balaclavas, carrying handcuffs, was as sinister as it was outrageous.

'Deploying such a tactic here, in Northern Ireland, to an unsuspecting workforce is so ill-judged and shocking, our condemnation alone is simply not enough.'

MARCH 22-24: P&O APOLOGISES FOR SACKINGS, BUT INSISTS IT WOULD 'DO IT AGAIN' AND ADMITS DECISION WAS ILLEGAL 

In a letter to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng dated March 22, P&O Ferries' millionaire boss Peter Hebblethwaite denied breaking British labour laws because the ships are registered outside of the UK – in this case, Cyprus and the Bahamas. 

He said that the 'very clear statutory obligation in the particular circumstances that applied was for each company to notify the competent authority of the state where the vessel is registered'.

The chief executive wrote that notification had been made to the relevant authorities on March 17, and that no offence had been committed regarding notifying the Secretary of State. Mr Kwarteng had threatened P&O Ferries with unlimited fines, warning Mr Hebblethwaite that 'clear rules' include 'notifying in advance… the Secretary of State'.

However, maritime lawyers argued that former Tory minister Chris Grayling had cleared the way for P&O Ferries to sack staff without needing to tell the Transport Secretary.

Kevin Barnett, head of employment at marine law specialists Lester Aldridge LLP, claimed that laws to protect employees in Britain were amended by Mr Grayling in 2018 so that the Secretary of State does not have to be notified of mass redundancies on ships registered overseas.

Mr Hebblethwaite added that the firm was 'painfully aware' of the 'distress' caused to workers and their families on being sacked without warning or consultation, but added that this course of action was taken as a 'last resort'.

P&O Ferries also announced that it would pay more than £36million in compensation to sacked staff, with 40 employees in line for payments of more than £100,000. It said payouts would be linked to the period of service, and in some cases exceed £170,000.

The total value of the settlement is £36,541,648, with no worker set to receive less than £15,000, the company added. 

In a statement, Mr Hebblethwaite issued a public apology for the sackings, but insisted that it was 'the only way to save the business'.

He repeated this at a dramatic joint evidence session to MPs on March 24 - before admitting that he broke the law by laying off 800 staff without notice, and insisted he would 'do it again'. 

Matters were only made worse when the millionaire, who is paid £325,000 to run P&O Ferries and lives in a plush Cotswold farmhouse worth more than £1.5million, refused to say if he could live on the new workers' £5.50 hourly wage.

Darren Jones, the Labour chair of the business committee, kicked off the hearing by asking Mr Hebblethwaite: 'Are you in this mess because you don't know what you're doing, or are you just a shameless criminal?'.

Mr Hebblethwaite subsequently issued a public apology to the hundreds of staff, and their families, dropped in the lurch after giving them no notice of their redundancy via Zoom.

He was then accused of unlawfully implementing redundancies without consulting the trade union beforehand, after telling the group of astonished MPs: 'There is absolutely no doubt that we were required to consult with the unions. We chose not to do that.'

Andy McDonald, the former shadow transport secretary, asked: 'You chose to break the law?'. Mr Hebblethwaite replied: 'We chose not to consult, and we will compensate everybody in full for that.'

Mr McDonald asked: 'Do you get in your car and drive down the motorway and see the 70mph sign and say, 'That's not going to apply to me, I'm going to do 90 because I think it's important that I do that'? Is that how you go about your life?'.

'No it isn't,' Mr Hebblethwaite replied.

The millionaire boss admitted that he would 'do it again', telling MPs: 'I completely throw our hands up, my hands up, that we did choose not to consult. We did not believe there was any other way to do this. We weren't viable before, and I know that if we hadn't made radical changes the business would have closed'.

He also refused to answer if he could survive on £5.50 per hour, the rate he is paying cheap foreign workers. The minimum wage in the UK for people aged 23 and above is £8.91 per hour. By comparison, the sacked crew earned an average of

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