The controversial head of P&O Ferries who presided over the mass sacking of hundreds of workers has quit his role.
Chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite sparked outrage after he sacked 800 staff and replaced them with cheaper agency workers in March 2022.
P&O Ferries told the BBC Mr Hebblethwaite was resigning to “dedicate more time to family matters”.
Following the public outrage over the scandal, Mr Hebblethwaite admitted to MPs that the sackings broke UK employment law, but argued no union would have accepted the firm’s plans and it was easier to compensate workers instead.
P&O Ferries said it “extends its gratitude to Peter Hebblethwaite for his contributions as CEO over the past four years”.
“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.”
The RMT union which represents seafarers said it is “looking forward to a Hebblethwaite-free ferry industry”, describing him as a “corporate pirate”.
At a hearing over workers’ rights and protection last year, Mr Hebblethwaite said he was deeply sorry for the redundancies and claimed “we would not make that decision again”.
He told MPs he would not be able to live on the £4.87 an hour rate that some of the agency crew were being paid at the time, which included overtime and bonuses, and revealed he had earned more than £500,000 in 2023.
At the time of the mass sackings, hundreds of people protested in Dover, Liverpool, and Hull.
P&O Ferries did not face criminal action over the way it fired its employees with the Insolvency Service saying there was no realistic prospect of a conviction.
However, a civil investigation is ongoing which the government agency said it was “working hard to complete at the soonest opportunity”.
“It is vital, for all those involved, that we assess carefully all the information available to us,” the Insolvency Service said, adding that it would provide updates when possible.
Since scandal emerged, the government has drafted legislation aimed at preventing similar firings happening in the future.
The Employment Rights Bill aims to end fire and rehire practices and contains a package of seafarer protections in response to the P&O Ferries scandal.
Mr Hebblethwaite was a former executive at J Sainsbury, Greene King, and Alliance Unichem before joining P&O Ferries in 2019. He then took over as chief executive two years later.
