P&O Ferries cancellations and delays after jobs axe – can you get your money back?

P&O Ferries has suspended sailings “for the subsequent few days” and has sacked 800 seafarers as it's “not a viable enterprise” in its present state.

Staff at the moment on board ships have been instructed by unions to not depart.

Coaches carrying company staff employed to exchange them are parked close to ships at ports.

There have been experiences that balaclava-clad safety groups have been despatched on to ferries to take away the sacked workers.

Three P&O Ferries, Spirit of Britain, Pleasure of Canterbury and Pleasure of Kent moor up within the cruise terminal on the Port of Dover in Kent as the corporate has suspended sailings.

Gareth Fuller

Mark Dickinson, normal secretary of maritime union Nautilus Worldwide, stated: “The information that P&O Ferries is sacking the crew throughout its whole UK fleet is a betrayal of British staff.

“It's nothing wanting scandalous on condition that this Dubai-owned firm acquired hundreds of thousands of kilos of British taxpayers’ cash throughout the pandemic.”

Holidaymakers who've headed to ports and have been prepared for his or her journeys at this time can be met with the sudden information and may very well be trying to declare compensation.

P&O Ferries' check-in lanes on the Port of Dover in Kent.

Gareth Fuller

A press release from the ferry operator on Twitter learn: "Regretfully, P&O Ferries companies are unable to run for the subsequent few hours. Our Port Groups will information you and journey can be organized by way of an alternate operator. We apologise for the inconvenience it will have in your journey plans".

In keeping with ABTA, a commerce affiliation for tour operators and journey brokers within the UK, shopper's rights for a refund will rely upon the size of time your journey is delayed by.

ABTA guidelines that if a cancellation ends in an in a single day keep then lodging must be provided freed from cost to the passenger.

A ferry operator which cancels a service must also supply a refund or an alternate possibility.

ABTA stated: "In case your ferry operator expects your departure to be cancelled, the operator ought to inform you as quickly as doable. If that is on the day of journey, you ought to be knowledgeable no later than half-hour after your scheduled time of departure."

The commerce affiliation states that customers are entitled to compensation of 25 % of the ticket value if a service is delayed for: not less than one hour for a journey of length 4 hours, two hours for a journey of length between 4 and eight hours, three hours for a journey of length between eight and 24 hours or six hours for a journey of length of over 24 hours.

If the delay exceeds double these occasions, the compensation can be 50 % of the ticket value.