FERRY GOOD
Alan Partridge risks wrath of ITV bosses as he takes aim at P&O Ferries’ cheap labour on Saturday Night Takeaway
ALAN Partridge risked the wrath of ITV bosses tonight as he took aim at P&O Ferries' cheap labour scandal on Saturday Night Takeaway.
Norwich's most famous fictional son was at his hapless best as the guest announcer on tonight's show.
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He couldn't help bring up a major news story that threatened to break the channel's broadcasting rule and making bosses sweat.
After a game of Kiddie-oke that saw the worst singers in the audience guess famous songs sung by children.
When Ant and Dec asked Alan what he thought of the game, he said: "I thought it was great. But when I saw what you were paying those children I was appalled. I said they'd be better off working for that ferry company you said I wasn't allowed to mention because of ITV guidelines."
P&O Ferries’ millionaire boss Peter Hebblethwaite was recently labelled a “shameless criminal” after he admitted breaking employment law by sacking 800 workers without notice.
While giving evidence to MPs, he agreed there was “absolutely no doubt” his firm should have consulted with trade unions.
He claimed he was “saving the business”, adding: “I would make this decision again, I am afraid.”
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Mr Hebblethwaite also revealed that replacement workers will be paid less than minimum wage, but insisted this is allowed under international maritime rules.
Darren Jones, chairman of the business select committee, asked him: “Are you in this mess because you don’t know what you’re doing, or are you just a shameless criminal?”
And he was later accused of “absolute thuggery and criminality” by Labour’s former shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald.
Asked if he had breached his legal obligations as a company director, Mr Hebblethwaite said: “I completely throw our hands up, my hands up, that we did choose not to consult. We did not believe there was any other way to do this.”
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He also offered an apology to the seafarers who lost their jobs, adding: “This may be a late apology, but the reason you’re hearing it now is that I’ve spent the last week talking to our people one-to-one.
“P&O has lost an unsustainable amount of money. The reality is, we would have had to close the business. We thought long and hard about this and decided every option available would result in the closure of P&O. This new crewing model is fundamentally different. No union could accept it.”
Mr Hebblethwaite, on £325,000 a year, said the new crew will be paid just £5.50 an hour. The minimum wage is £8.91.
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