The government has long turned a blind eye to widespread pay abuses by operators working out of UK ports
If Grant Shapps hoped P&O Ferries would fold before his ultimatum this week and reinstate 800 sacked workers, a letter by return quickly disabused him.
Such a move, P&O Ferries’ chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite said, would lead to the company collapsing, adding the transport secretary was “ignoring the situation’s fundamental and factual realities”.
