P&O Ferries admits Dover chef's unfair dismissal

P&O Ferries has admitted the sacking of a former chef was unfair dismissal after about 800 staff lost their jobs without notice in March.

John Lansdown was the only seafarer to take legal action after refusing a redundancy settlement offered by the ferry company.

The settlement will go to the Sailors Children's Society.

The firm admitted no consultation over the job losses took place before March, BBC Politics South East revealed.

Workers who were sacked and accepted P&O Ferries' redundancy package signed away their right to take legal action against the company.

'Moral victory'

Mr Lansdown, 40, began legal proceedings in April. He said: "It was a day which changed all of our lives. They turned our lives upside down."

He described his settlement as a "moral victory".

As part of it, P&O Ferries and Mr Lansdown have agreed not to disclose the size of the settlement.

"At first P&O [Ferries] said publicly it was a programme of redundancy - a programme of change. No it wasn't. It was, as they've now admitted, I was unfairly dismissed on the day that I and 800 other seafarers were sacked.

"This is really big for British workers. This puts unscrupulous employers on notice that people aren't going to take this lying down," Mr Lansdown told the BBC.

"Not everything is about money. This is about right and wrong, this is about principles, this is about standing up to this organisation which thinks it can just disregard the law."

Shortly after the sackings, the Insolvency Service launched criminal and civil investigations into the circumstances around the redundancies,

For the full interview with John Lansdown watch Politics South East on Sunday 2 October, or catch up later on the BBC iPlayer

Mr Lansdown joined P&O Ferries as a 16-year-old trainee and was working as a sous chef on The Pride of Canterbury when he was sacked in March.

P&O Ferries boss Peter Hebblethwaite previously admitted to MPs that a decision to sack 800 workers without notice or union consultation had broken the law but said he would make the decision again if he had to.

At the time, he said of his decision that no union would have accepted the plan and it was easier to compensate workers "in full" instead.

John Lansdown next to the Old Pride of Kent, the first ship he joined aged 16

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover, said: "P&O [Ferries] directors admitted that they intended to, and did, break the law, and we can see from the responses to John Lansdown that that is the case.

"I think it's absolutely vital that the Insolvency Service looks again at directors' disqualification proceedings in relation to those P&O directors, in addition to the protection for seafarers now going through parliament."

P&O Ferries said it would not comment on the settlement with Mr Lansdown.

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