MPs tear into P&O Ferries chief executive over sackings

MPs have heavily criticised the P&O Ferries chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite over the unlawful sackings of 800 staff, in a special joint session by the business and transport committees.

Darren Jones, chair of the business committee, asked Hebblethwaite: “Are you in this mess because you don’t know what you’re doing, or are you just a shameless criminal?”

Hebblethwaite

The P&O Ferries chief executive confessed they broke the law by sacking 800 of their workers without consulting the unions.

“It was our assessment that the change was of such a magnitude that no union could possibly accept our proposal”, Hebblethwaite argued.

The former shadow secretary of state for transport, Andy McDonald, said he’d “never heard such farcical answers to a series of questions.

Hebblethwaite also admitted the new foreign agency workers will be paid just £5.50 per hair, below the national living wage in the UK.

According to Hebblethwaite, Grant Shapps was informed on the 22nd November last year that P&O Ferries were preparing to make significant changes to their business.

Asked if he would do anything differently, Hebblethwaite stated he “would make this decision again.”