The boss of P&O Ferries has insisted he will not reverse the decision to sack nearly 800 seafarers, despite being given “one further opportunity” by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite wrote to the Cabinet minister claiming his request “ignores the situation’s fundamental and factual realities”.
Re-employing the sacked workers on their previous wages would “deliberately cause the company’s collapse, resulting in the irretrievable loss of an additional 2,200 jobs”, the letter stated.
