P&O bosses confident of avoiding ‘fire and rehire’ fine and thought public anger would ‘recover’
Controversial cruise operator P&O is confident it will not pay for the ‘fire and rehire’ scandal last year, according to company filings shared with City A.M.
The accounts, which cover the 2021 calendar year, predict that the UK’s Insolvency Service will not be able to demonstrate that any subsequent action taken was in the public interest, or was “just” and “equitable.”
It reads: “The Insolvency Service would need to show that any action it proposed to take was in the public interest and just and equitable.”
“The directors consider that it will not be able to demonstrate this and consequently there is a less than remote possibility of a related economic outflow in relation to any such action.”
The accounts also shed light on P&O bosses’ belief that negative public sentiment “would gradually recover” as the business “continues to operate in a transparent and compliant manner,” with the directors predicting a return to profitability this year.
P&O is currently subject to a civil inquiry after it sacked nearly 800 workers last year, after a major slump in its financial performance. Losses for the firm had increased by nearly £270 million between 2020 and 2021.
In a statement today, the company defended its tactics, arguing that “the business needed to make major changes to its operating model in order to survive.”
“We are working hard to return the business to long-term profitability, and to thrive in a highly competitive market.”
The P&O spokesperson added: “We are proud to be the market leader in ferry travel on the Channel – in the first three months of this year P&O Ferries carried 45 percent of total passenger ferry crossings between Dover and France, more than any other ferry operator.”
“Last summer we carried more than one million passengers and our passenger booking numbers are now the highest we’ve had either during or since the COVID-19 pandemic.”