London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

P&O Ferries rejects plea from Grant Shapps for U-turn on sackings

P&O Ferries rejects plea from Grant Shapps for U-turn on sackings

Ferry firm’s boss says complying with minister’s request would cause company’s collapse
P&O Ferries has rejected the UK government’s call to move this week’s deadline for the 800 sacked workers to accept redundancy offers, saying most had already signed contracts and ministers were “ignoring the situation’s fundamental and factual realities”.

In a bullish response to the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, the ferry operator’s chief executive, Peter Hebblethwaite, said the demand was legally impossible and would close the firm down.

He wrote to Shapps: “Complying with your request would deliberately cause the company’s collapse, resulting in the irretrievable loss of an additional 2,200 jobs. I cannot imagine that you would wish to compel an employer to bring about its downfall, affecting not hundreds but thousands of families.”

Hebblethwaite said that more than 765 of the 786 crew members summarily sacked on 17 March had “taken steps to accept the settlement offer”, and more than 500 had signed legally binding agreements. That included 67 officers who were planning to continue to work on P&O’s vessels with the new agency crew.

Shapps had written to P&O Ferries on Monday offering “one last opportunity” to reverse its extraordinary and illegal sacking of the UK-based crew, working on Jersey contracts, before bringing in a planned package of legal measures to force its hand.

The transport secretary is expected to unveil an eight-point plan to parliament on Wednesday that will include tightening employment laws for ship operators in UK waters, and tackling minimum pay.

Hebblethwaite wrote that the firm welcomed proposals to increase the minimum wage for all seafarers in UK waters, adding: “From the outset, P&O Ferries has called for a level playing field regarding salaries on British ferry routes.”

What unions have called a “race to the bottom” among operators was accelerated last year after the government refused to step in when Irish Ferries started operating the Dover-Calais crossing in summer 2021, using a similar model of low-paid agency staff.

Calls by unions for intervention were followed by a direct personal warning to Shapps in November last year from P&O Ferries’ Dubai-based owner, the DP World chief executive, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, that Irish Ferries’ low-cost crewing model “posed challenges” to its operations.

Hebblethwaite told Shapps that regardless of the minimum wage, P&O Ferries would need to adopt a different crewing model, and not pay staff for their rest periods as agreed with unions.

The chief executive, who shocked MPs at a Commons hearing last week by admitting his firm deliberately broke the law by dismissing the workers without consultation, said: “I have endeavoured to present the facts in this letter and before the select committees with absolute candour and transparency.”

He added: “We have made this difficult decision in the knowledge that it would be highly unpopular and, for some, difficult to reconcile … I am fully cognisant of the reputational cost to the P&O Ferries brand and me personally.”

Sailings remain suspended on passenger routes. On Monday night, a second P&O ferry, the Pride of Kent, was detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency after failing a safety inspection.

Another ferry, the European Causeway, was detained in Larne, near Belfast, last Friday after failing an inspection due to issues including crew familiarisation and training.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×