P&O Ferries: Lost at sea
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2022
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Since firing 800 of its employees with no warning, P&O Ferries has faced mounting pressure from the government and calls for CEO Peter Hebblethwaite to resign. How did this happen? And what's on the horizon for the embattled company?
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Guest: Ben Clatworthy, Transport Correspondent, The Times.
Host: Calum Macdonald.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the middle of March, while those of us who are lucky to have cause for celebration |
| 0:07.0 | were settling into St Patrick's Day with a well-pulled Guinness or two, 800 not-so-dubulent |
| 0:13.3 | P&O workers were gripped by their screens, processing, and all staff video call. |
| 0:18.9 | The company has made the decision that the sessions going forward will be primarily |
| 0:24.3 | crewed by a third-party crew provider. |
| 0:27.4 | P&O chief executive Peter Hebbelfweight had decided due to a difficult pandemic, the only |
| 0:33.3 | way the company is to survive is with a huge staff clear out, but the move has not gone |
| 0:39.4 | over well. |
| 0:41.0 | Workers are now left wondering how on earth they will put food on their families table, |
| 0:46.0 | and the management did not even have the decency to tell them face to face. |
| 0:51.0 | Yesterday, Transport Secretary Grant Shaps took to the floor of the House of Commons to see |
| 1:10.3 | enough is enough. |
| 1:12.3 | P&O Ferries has left the government with no choice. |
| 1:16.3 | I am today announcing a package of nine measures that will force them to fundamentally |
| 1:23.0 | rethink their decision. |
| 1:26.4 | What will become of the shipping firm with such rich and familiar heritage has its apparent |
| 1:32.0 | disregard for UK law plotted its course for good and what other challenges lurk over |
| 1:37.6 | the horizon. |
| 1:39.2 | You cannot allow a famous name and iconic company like P&O to behave like this in modern |
| 1:45.8 | Britain. |
| 1:46.8 | You're listening to stories of our times, from the times and the Sunday times, I'm |
| 1:52.5 | Callum McDonald. |
... |
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