P&O plans to restart services ‘by next week’ as boss plays down safety failings
Beleaguered ferry firm P&O said it was looking to restart sailing on the Dover to Calais route as soon as this weekend, as its boss looked to play down safety failings that forced it to suspend services on one of its ships.
A spokesperson for P&O said it is preparing to get its Pride of Kent and Spirit of Britain ships back in action on the Dover-Calais route “by next week”.
The plans come despite the Pride of Kent being detained by port authorities over a list of 25 safety failures recently.
Boss Peter Hebblethwaite looked to play down the severity and said that all were “totally fixable”, in a video obtained by ITV News.
Seven of P&O’s eight ferries remain in port three weeks after the company unceremoniously sacked 800 of its staff and brought in agency workers who could be paid under minimum wage.
The move has sparked a major backlash from staff, government and unions, with the firm and Hebblethwaite now face the first legal proceedings launched by one of the sacked staff members.
John Lansdown, a chef for P&O, has claimed unfair dismissal, racial discrimination and harassment against the firm as he is British and eligible for minimum wage.
P&O said job cuts were “categorically not based on race or the nationality of the staff involved”.