The chief executive described as “Britain’s most hated boss” after sacking almost 800 workers at P&O Ferries is to leave the company.
Peter Hebblethwaite prompted outrage in 2022 after P&O Ferries dismissed 786 staff and replaced them with low-paid agency workers, who received considerably less than the UK minimum wage.
At the time the cross-Channel ferry company was accused of operating like “pirates of the high sea” and during questioning at a parliamentary hearing Darren Jones, then chair of the business committee, asked: “Are you in this mess because you don’t know what you’re doing, or are you just a shameless criminal?”
Hebblethwaite always said his actions were the only way of saving the ferry group from going bust. No criminal charges were brought after the sackings.
A spokesperson for P&O Ferries, a subsidiary of the Dubai-based ports operator DP World, said: “Peter Hebblethwaite has communicated his intention to resign from his position as chief executive officer to dedicate more time to family matters. P&O Ferries extends its gratitude to Peter Hebblethwaite for his contributions as CEO over the past four years.
“During his tenure the company navigated the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, initiated a path towards financial stability, and introduced the world’s first large double-ended hybrid ferries on the Dover-Calais route, thereby enhancing sustainability. We extend our best wishes to him for his future endeavours.”
The change of management at P&O Ferries, which was first reported by Sky News, follows the company wrestling with its governance after twice failing to publish its annual accounts on time, which is technically a criminal offence.
The ferry operator’s 2022 accounts were almost 11 months late when they were belatedly published in November last year and showed that the company spent more than £47m on jettisoning its UK seafarers.
Earlier this year, it emerged that P&O had hired a tiny four-person auditing firm to replace KPMG, one of the “big four” accountancy firms, which resigned from approving its annual accounts in March.
When P&O Ferries’ 2023 accounts were finally published in July, they revealed that Hebblethwaite had been paid £683,000 in the financial year after making the controversial dismissals, a pay rise of at least 55% that included a £183,000 bonus.
“I reflected on accepting that payment, but ultimately I did decide to accept it,” Hebblethwaite told MPs. “I do recognise it is not a decision that everybody would have made.”
The increased remuneration contrasted sharply with the pay that had been received by seafarers onboard the company’s ferries.
In 2022, the businessman told parliamentarians that the lowest-paid agency worker would receive £5.15 an hour, only for a Guardian and ITV News investigation in March 2024 to reveal how some seafarers were receiving an hourly rate as low as £4.87.
Hebblethwaite was recalled to appear in front of another select committee hearing two months after the expose and conceded that “the lowest, fully consolidated hourly pay is about £4.87”. When the Guardian and ITV News had previously asked P&O about the £4.87 an hour figure, a spokesperson had said: “We do not recognise the pay rates that you are referencing. No member of our crew on our Dover-Calais vessels earns less than $2,400 per month, equivalent to £5.20 per hour.”
The company was able to pay rates considerably below the UK minimum wage because maritime workers, employed by an overseas agency who work on foreign-registered ships in international waters, were exempt from the relevant legislation. As P&O used that specific model, the level of pay on board its vessels was legal.
However, last year new legislation in the UK and France became active. Pay rates are understood to have risen onboard P&O vessels since.
In its latest accounts, the company lost £91.4m before tax in 2023, a considerable improvement on the £249.4m losses in 2022.
The accounts show that it transported 4.6 million passengers in 2023, a 45% reduction on the 8.4 million carried in 2018.
