The controversial chief executive of P&O Ferries, who was widely condemned during the Covid-19 pandemic for sacking 800 mainly British workers, is to leave the company.
Peter Hebblethwaite, 54, variously dubbed “Britain’s most hated boss” and “a pirate”, is quitting the ferry operator, known for its Dover-Calais short strait crossings, “to dedicate more time to family matters”.
Hebblethwaite shot to national fame after the mass sacking of workers in 2022 to lower the ferry operator’s wage bill and put the rest of the workforce on international seafarer agency contracts not covered by UK law, paying less than half the national minimum wage. Some workers were informed of their redundancy by video message.
Hebblethwaite was subsequently eviscerated at a parliamentary inquiry, which prompted changes in the law by the new Labour government to close loopholes and offer workers greater protection. Ministers called P&O Ferries a “rogue employer” and the affair a “national scandal”.
Hebblethwaite returned to the headlines this summer when the Dubai-owned company’s accounts revealed that following the sackings, Hebblethwaite’s annual pay shot up to £715,000, including bonuses, despite heavy trading losses.
People protest over P&O Ferries’ decision to fire hundreds of employees at Westminster Square in 2022
MAY JAMES//REUTERS
He had previously indicated to parliament that he was paid substantially less. His predecessor was paid £440,000 a year.
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P&O Ferries has been owned since 2006 by the Dubai royal family led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, best known in the UK for his extensive bloodstock and horse-racing interests. P&O Ferries is now part of Dubai Ports World, whose other interests in the UK include the London Gateway port on the north bank of the Thames in Essex and the Port of Southampton.
Hebblethwaite was widely condemned in a government inquiry over his treatment of workers
HOUSE OF COMMONS/PA
In a statement issued to Sky News on Friday, P&O Ferries said: “P&O Ferries extends its gratitude to Peter Hebblethwaite for his contributions as CEO over the past four years.
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“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.”
There was no statement on who his successor would be.
Hebblethwaite had joined P&O Ferries in 2019, rising to chief executive in November 2021. He had previously worked at J Sainsbury, the grocer, Greene King, the pubs group, and Alliance Unichem, the pharmacy chain.