We speak to former Kent P&O employees over boss Peter Hebblethwaite's resignation

KentOnline / KMTV

Former staff are still asking questions on his decision to sack almost 800 workers and replace them with cheaper agency workers .  Josh McMinn has this report.

Transcript

00:00The CEO of P&O Ferries, Peter Hebbelthwaite, resigned today, stating he wanted to dedicate

00:05more time to family matters. Mr Hebbelthwaite was dubbed Britain's most hated boss after

00:11abruptly sacking almost 800 staff in 2022, only to then replace them with cheaper agency labour.

00:18The move was so scandalous that it prompted an MP select committee

00:22and changes to the law to prevent it from happening again.

00:24In a statement, the workers union RMT likened his departure to someone leaving the scene of a crime.

00:31Good riddance, but it doesn't really solve the problems.

00:35The second part is, will anything change? We'll have to wait and see when the new

00:40Employment Law Act comes into force.

00:43P&O refused to comment on RMT's characterisation of their CEO, but sent us their own statement,

00:47which credits Hebbelthwaite with initiating a path towards financial stability.

00:52In the year after the mass sacking, the company's accounts appear to show their losses reduced from

00:56almost 250 million to 90 million. But the move has had other significant costs.

01:01We've heard Peter Hebbelthwaite talk today in a statement issued by P&O about he's going to spend

01:08time focusing on family matters. What about the families of the 786 seafarers that were unlawfully sacked

01:17by P&O? Because some research that's been recently conducted by Salford University into the

01:30personal impact of these sackings showed that 83% of the seafarers that were surveyed have experienced

01:39significant mental health issues as a result of the mass sackings.

01:44The next CEO is yet to be announced. Josh McMinn, KMTV.

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