P & O Ferries

[muon]

Surely they partly got themselves to blame for having almost the exact same name

Right...

Not the fault of people who don't know what they are talking about.

Also just read P&O Ferries actually made 1,100 people redundant when covid first hit. They probably regret not just doing everyone now, instead of keeping them, albeit with Furlough support.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ies-to-cut-1100-jobs-owner-pay-270m-dividends

 

[Uther]

Right...

Not the fault of people who don't know what they are talking about.

Without a doubt I would have considered them the same company. They probably need to look at that really considering the fall out from this.

 

[KiNgPiN83]

P&O will take a massive financial hit from this. Brexit has not changed employment laws (so far anyway). P&O being based in Jersey does not change the employment laws that apply (UK). Otherwise American firms would fire UK employees without comeback or firms would move their registered country before mass firing employees to circumvent the laws.

All employees will need to be paid:
Redundancy pay
Notice period
Period of time for when they should have been employed while the company was running the redundancy consultation (can be about 3 months)

The bigger issue they face is whether they can argued whether it is even a redundancy situation. As they are replacing the workers with agency staff it suggests that the roles are still required and therefore it is not a redundancy situation at all. If this is how a judge views the situation (P&O business model viability does not factor in to this) then they could be responsible for paying all employees until they find a new job.

So there is the potential for this to get very expensive and messy for P&O…

Chances are the majority of workers will just take what's offered and try to move on. It's awful but with fuel/living costs going up they need to get back earning ASAP and how could we blame them? Ideally P&O Ferries should get the shaft for this but they probably won't..

 

[Harlequin]

Have read - so maybe wrong? That because the company are using the reduced employment law loopholes (since 2016) so the unions and government can make noises, P&O can do what they want as the staff are fully reimbursed their redundancy?

 

[Jean-F]

Without a doubt I would have considered them the same company. They probably need to look at that really considering the fall out from this.

I doubt that ferry users will boycott them in droves, particularly if they’re cheaper than the next operator, people often disparage Ryanair, but if they can get to the Costas for £3 less than EasyJet they’d travel in Ryanair’s hold.

 

[Caracus2k]

Funny how everyone is into cancel culture all of a sudden

One day you may realise there's a difference between consumers making their own choices about which compaines they use and activists who try to attack businesses by actions like going after companies that advertise on their platform with concocted allegations.

 

[Diddums]

P&O will take a massive financial hit from this.

Business 101: Do something awful, try and contain the fallout, then once the heat has died down rebrand to something else, or "sell" the company to "another company" which happens to have very strong ties to the directorial board of the original company. It'll happen, mark my words. By this time next year they'll be sailing under a different flag but with the same people at the helm. The hit they're taking now will have been factored in to their forecasting and they'll have a plan in place to recover entirely.

 

[HangTime]

Ships will still need basic maintainence and security crewing.

I actually wrote maintenance in my original post and then deleted it because I figured if the ships aren't going anywhere, then maintenance is a relatively low priority concern.

I mean I just don't get it. If there are to be no ferry journeys then why waste money postponing the ineviitable, just wind it up or sell. No point hiring staff if you aren't intending on bringing in revenue.

 

[Tefal]

I doubt that ferry users will boycott them in droves, particularly if they’re cheaper than the next operator, people often disparage Ryanair, but if they can get to the Costas for £3 less than EasyJet they’d travel in Ryanair’s hold.

For all the bad things people say about Ryan air I can usualy get a ticket for Italy for less than the train and bus to the airport.

Through covid a flight to Italy was about 9.99 vs the usuall 18-30 quid

Costs around 10 quid for the bus to the nearest town and back

 

[bainbridge]

I've always found dfds to be cheaper than P&O, so have never used them. Having said that, if I were faced with similar prices I'd choose not to sail with P&O after this.

 

[LeeUK]

There is a lot of crap unions out there. This hire and rehire happened at Morrisons some years ago where the staff lost their paid breaks and Sunday premium and had to sign new contracts, yet the union, USDAW, where all for it. And it went through.

 

[bazzabear]

Business 101: Do something awful, try and contain the fallout, then once the heat has died down rebrand to something else, or "sell" the company to "another company"

That's pretty much what happened to turn them into P&O from Townsend Thoreson in the first place, after the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.

 

[teenwolf]

For all the bad things people say about Ryan air I can usualy get a ticket for Italy for less than the train and bus to the airport.

Through covid a flight to Italy was about 9.99 vs the usuall 18-30 quid

Costs around 10 quid for the bus to the nearest town and back

Flown with them 3 times a year no issues and yes cheap as chips

 

[Mrwong]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58997916

“No 10 said it wanted new guidance for companies, rather than a law.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Using threats of firing and rehiring is completely unacceptable as a negotiating tactic. We expect companies to treat their employees fairly.

"However, there is insufficient evidence to show legislation will stop the practice or will be effective." “

The government knew about it before they fired staff. Funny they talk about other countries yet they do the same to their own.

 

[Jean-F]

For all the bad things people say about Ryan air I can usualy get a ticket for Italy for less than the train and bus to the airport.

Through covid a flight to Italy was about 9.99 vs the usuall 18-30 quid

Costs around 10 quid for the bus to the nearest town and back

I am sincerely happy for you that you feel that Ryanair is okay, I flew with them once to Stockholm, (allegedly, as it felt like we landed closer to Helsinki), I needed to get to Stockholm in a hurry and they were the next available flight with capacity.
That and the fact that they wouldn’t let me buy coffee or water on board, but would sell me alcohol at 07.00 was enough to discourage me from using them in the future.
Then years later I got a text from my son saying that he was having a freebie in a luxury villa in Carvoiero, owned by his wife’s cousin, get my a*s out there for a freebie in the sun.
Once again the next available flight at a sensible time was Ryanair, so I threw caution to the wind for the sake of sitting by the pool eating chicken piri piri and knocking back a decent wine.
I learned my lesson finally at Stansted in the departure lounge, when Priority Boarders, (which didn’t include me), were called, the crowd, who resembled a travellers reunion, rushed the gate en masse.
When I did get on board, there was a guy threatening violence because he couldn’t sit next to his wife, that was enough for me to give Ryanair a miss from then on.

I've always found dfds to be cheaper than P&O, so have never used them. Having said that, if I were faced with similar prices I'd choose not to sail with P&O after this.

I haven’t used a ferry for years now, I prefer the speed of Le Shuttle, the train from Folkestone to Calais, plus it gets me to my family in Lens and Lille quicker, it’s more expensive at app £220 return to the ferry’s £150 but I find it worth it to save on travelling time to France.

That's pretty much what happened to turn them into P&O from Townsend Thoreson in the first place, after the Zeebrugge ferry disaster.

I certainly am not confident enough to dispute that, but I think that “Zeebrugge” happened at roughly the same period that I was driving for Castrol, and bunkering the M.V. Lion, a P & O ferry out of Dover to Calais.
We would drive on to the car deck and they’d load vehicles around the tanker as I was pumping the oil into the ship’s tanks.
The ferry would sail with my truck on board, and the stern door was left open a couple of metres, to allow the exhaust to escape.
Great job, we would freight up with Duty Free, then drive off the ship and straight out of the gate unhindered, as it looked for all the world like we’d been making a delivery in the docks.

 

[Pudney]

There is a lot of crap unions out there. This hire and rehire happened at Morrisons some years ago where the staff lost their paid breaks and Sunday premium and had to sign new contracts, yet the union, USDAW, where all for it. And it went through.

If the Union was all for it then you have to take seriously the fact it may well have been the best thing to do, despite the fact on your personal level it was a crap thing to do. Ultimately, if the choice was between everyone gets a little less and a large amount of the Union's members being made redundant, it's probably a good thing to recommend the small hit to everyone...

Sometimes the best choice for employees isn't what's best for them individually, no good keeping those perks if everyone loses their jobs as the business goes under.

 

[Dis86]

If the Union was all for it then you have to take seriously the fact it may well have been the best thing to do, despite the fact on your personal level it was a crap thing to do. Ultimately, if the choice was between everyone gets a little less and a large amount of the Union's members being made redundant, it's probably a good thing to recommend the small hit to everyone...

Sometimes the best choice for employees isn't what's best for them individually, no good keeping those perks if everyone loses their jobs as the business goes under.

Exactly. Overpowered unions are what killed the British car manufacturing, ship building and coal mining industries.

 

[chrcoluk]

There is a lot of crap unions out there. This hire and rehire happened at Morrisons some years ago where the staff lost their paid breaks and Sunday premium and had to sign new contracts, yet the union, USDAW, where all for it. And it went through.

They do seem inconsistent, in one place I worked at, sometimes we would do walk out for someone merely getting a disciplinary. I remember one been for some one getting a written warning for taking too many smoke breaks. Also at this place, we got a contract upgrade which the union negotiated and its one of the most ridiculous I have ever seen (in the workers favour), my pay almost doubled merely for been available for overtime, the actual overtime pay was on top of that at quadruple rate.

I have also worked at places with no union presence and seen staff been treated like absolute dirt, so they are needed, but its a case of it been balanced. One data entry job I had, I was escorted off with no notice as if I did gross misconduct just because a guy I didnt get on with got promoted to been my manager, within two days of his promotion that happened. I did eventually get compensation but not my job back.

 

[bazzabear]

I certainly am not confident enough to dispute that, but I think that “Zeebrugge” happened ...

P&O did indeed already exist at the time of Zeebrugge. And in fact had already bought Townsend Thoresen. But the re-brand of TT (who were a much bigger name in cross channel ferrying at the time) was massively accelerating to get rid of the name associated with a disaster.

I remember taking a P&O ferry a year or so later, and the headrests in the lounge were still stamped with TT.

 

[Tefal]

I am sincerely happy for you that you feel that Ryanair is okay, I flew with them once to Stockholm, (allegedly, as it felt like we landed closer to Helsinki), I needed to get to Stockholm in a hurry and they were the next available flight with capacity.
That and the fact that they wouldn’t let me buy coffee or water on board, but would sell me alcohol at 07.00 was enough to discourage me from using them in the future.
Then years later I got a text from my son saying that he was having a freebie in a luxury villa in Carvoiero, owned by his wife’s cousin, get my a*s out there for a freebie in the sun.
Once again the next available flight at a sensible time was Ryanair, so I threw caution to the wind for the sake of sitting by the pool eating chicken piri piri and knocking back a decent wine.
I learned my lesson finally at Stansted in the departure lounge, when Priority Boarders, (which didn’t include me), were called, the crowd, who resembled a travellers reunion, rushed the gate en masse.
When I did get on board, there was a guy threatening violence because he couldn’t sit next to his wife, that was enough for me to give Ryanair a miss from then on.



I haven’t used a ferry for years now, I prefer the speed of Le Shuttle, the train from Folkestone to Calais, plus it gets me to my family in Lens and Lille quicker, it’s more expensive at app £220 return to the ferry’s £150 but I find it worth it to save on travelling time to France.



I certainly am not confident enough to dispute that, but I think that “Zeebrugge” happened at roughly the same period that I was driving for Castrol, and bunkering the M.V. Lion, a P & O ferry out of Dover to Calais.
We would drive on to the car deck and they’d load vehicles around the tanker as I was pumping the oil into the ship’s tanks.
The ferry would sail with my truck on board, and the stern door was left open a couple of metres, to allow the exhaust to escape.
Great job, we would freight up with Duty Free, then drive off the ship and straight out of the gate unhindered, as it looked for all the world like we’d been making a delivery in the docks.

I find them perfect as longas you treat them like a bus.

Don't pick a seat, don't pay for a bag or priority just get on with your small bag get off quick and it's really painles.


Best thing is the gate they usualy use I mcr has a bar right by the door. I just sit there having a drink while everyone stands then once the queue is gone walk in as the last passenger, I've got a seat and I don't need cabin bag space so why bother with the human crush.


They are cheaper and slightly less shambolic than the Welsh bus service