P&O Ferries chef launches £76million lawsuit for unfair dismissal after he was sacked over Zoom

An ex-P&O Ferries chef has accused bosses of sacking him because he is British in a lawsuit for unfair dismissal against the company and its chief executive.

John Lansdown, who joined the company as a 16-year-old trainee, was working as a sous chef on The Pride of Canterbury when he was sacked ‘out of the blue’.

The 39-year-old, from Herne Bay, Kent, is the only seafarer able to take legal action against the company, which said all but one employee had accepted a settlement. 

In his landmark claim to London South employment tribunal, Mr Lansdown accuses P&O Ferries of treating him unfavourably in a ‘sham’ redundancy because he is British.

He is claiming race discrimination on the basis that P&O replaced staff with non-British crew paid an average of just £5.50 an hour – less than the minimum wage.

Mr Lansdown, whose annual salary was £30,827, is seeking six figure compensation for lost earnings and injury to feelings in his claim against P&O and its chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite.

It comes after criminal and civil investigations were launched on April 1 into P&O Ferries’ decision to lay off nearly 800 workers over Zoom without notice last month. 

Mr Lansdown said his action was about the ‘bigger picture’, telling the BBC: ‘This is not just about me. 

‘Seven hundred and ninety nine of my seafaring family have lost their livelihoods, their way of life, their homes for half the year.’

In legal papers submitted to the tribunal, he also said that P&O Ferries’ parent company, Dubai Ports World (DP World), is highly profitable.

On the basis of such profits, he also seeks exemplary damages of up to £76 million to ‘deter’ P&O Ferries or DP World from any future ‘fire and hire’ policy.

Tribunals have never previously made a punitive award of damages on such a scale.

Should he make legal history, Mr Lansdown says he would use the money to create a new trust to campaign for improved wages and terms and conditions for seafarers.

P&O Ferries says that Mr Lansdown is the only staff member not to have accepted its controversial settlement offer.

It says that its payouts linked to length of service totalling £36.5 million – with 40 workers receiving over £100,000 and no worker less than £15,000 – is the ‘largest compensation package in the British marine sector’.

In a statement responding to Mr Lansdown’s claim, P&O Ferries says that the job cuts were ‘categorically not based on race or the nationality of the staff involved’.

It insists that the company ‘needed fundamental change to make it viable’, adding: ‘We knew this decision was the only way to save the business.’ 

In his legal document, Mr Lansdown, who is married, tells how he was a sous chef on The Pride of Canterbury on the Dover to Calais route.

He had worked for P&O Ferries in two spells, leaving in the mid 2000s before re-joining the company in 2014.

He was working on the ship and had to leave his belongings behind when he was notified ‘out of the blue and without any prior consultation’ about his instant dismissal, he says.

The RMT union member alleges that private security staff, carrying handcuffs and wearing balaclavas, were hired to remove workers who refused to disembark ferries.

His claim states: ‘I was devastated by the brutal summary dismissal after many years of loyal and diligent service. The manner of the dismissal was harassing.’

He accuses P&O Ferries of ‘violating’ his dignity and creating an ‘intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating environment’.

He says the redundancy was unlawful as there was no fair selection process and no diminished need for his job.

Speaking today, Mr Lansdown branded P&O Ferries ‘unscrupulous’ and said he wanted to get ‘justice’ for all his former colleagues who felt they had little choice but to settle their cases.

He said: ‘The actions of P&O Ferries have upended the lives of 800 loyal and dedicated seafarers and their families.

‘Their grotesque disregard for due process in this country will set a dangerous precedent if allowed to stand.

‘The tribunal claim I have filed is intended to bring Peter Hebblethwaite and those responsible at P&O Ferries to justice and make them accountable for their unlawful action.’

Mr Hebblethwaite previously admitted to MPs that his decision to sack 800 workers without notice or union consultation had broken the law but said he would make the same decision again if he had to.

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

The Insolvency Service has launched criminal and civil investigations into the controversial mass redundancies.

A spokesperson for P&O Ferries said: ‘No staff involved in the redundancies wore balaclavas nor were they directed to use handcuffs or force.

‘Staff remained professional, sympathetic and calm in a challenging situation for everyone, trying to ensure the safety of all the people on board the ships. There was no harassment.

‘We took this difficult decision as a last resort and only after full consideration of all other options but, ultimately, we concluded that the business wouldn’t survive without fundamentally changed crewing arrangements, which in turn would inevitably result in redundancies.’