P&O Ferries boss accused of being a 'modern day pirate' and admits paying workers £4.87 per hour

Watch: P&O Boss Peter Hebblethwaite is asked at a committee of cross-party MPs if he could live on the wage being paid to his seafarers

The boss of P&O Ferries has told MPs the sudden mass-sacking of almost 800 workers is a difficult decision he wished the company 'never ever had to make'.

Peter Hebblethwaite faced a grilling from a cross-party committee and was asked 'are you a modern day pirate?'

It's been two years since the firm fired a large chunk of its workforce and replaced them with agency crew to cut costs, which saw Mr Hebblethwaite later admitting the company broke the law by not consulting with unions.

The chief executive, who admitted he could not live on £4.87 per hour, also revealed he earned £508,000 including a bonus of £183,000 last year.

In March, ITV News and the Guardian revealed that P&O is still paying some of those crew less than £5 an hour, drastically less than £325,000 a year salary earned by the firm's chief executive.

Mr Hebblethwaite was accused of 'robbing his staff blind' at Tuesday's hearing by failing to meet a commitment made in Parliament two years ago that staff would be paid £5.15 per hour.

He argued the company is meeting that hourly rate when factoring in holiday pay, guaranteed overtime and bonuses but admitted he could not live on the wage himself.

Hebblethwaite said: "It's important we compare apples with apples. Exchange rates move about.

"We pay in excess of those standards where we are governed by international laws. There is a minimum basic wage, dependent of exchange rate, which is about £2.18.

"We pay nearly double that and in addition to that the Marine Labour Convention requires us to pay, in addition to that basic wage, a guaranteed overtime, a guaranteed bonus and holiday and that takes the payment to five pounds an hour."

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Labour MP Liam Byrne, Chair of the Business and Trade Committee, presented evidence which suggested a cook on the Dover to Calais route was being paid £2.90 per hour.

Mr Hebblethwaite said "We are paying considerably ahead of the international minimum standard.

"We believe that it is right, as an international business operating in international waters, we should be governed by international law."

Changes to French international law means the minimum wage will jump to around £9 an hour and seafarers won't be allowed to work more than 14 consecutive days at a time.

Asked whether P&O will comply, Hebblethwaite told the hearing "yes, of course we will".

"These are international seafarers in international waters and we pay ahead of the national industry standard"

"We have no problem with recruitment and no problem with retention and we offer seafarers welfare onboard that is second to none.

"Every seafarers has their own cabin, they have their own restaurant, they have their own recreation space, they have their own gyms."

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