![Two P&O Ferries vessels in Dover Harbour. Credit: Wikimedia Commons Image:Two P&O Ferries vessels in Dover Harbour. Credit: Wikimedia Commons](/contentassets/4909b85434894202ba565e7340554111/po_ferries_dover_harbour_web.jpg)
Having recently travelled from Dover to Calais and return with P&O Ferries, as an ex-senior officer/master in the company during the 1980s, I am appalled that Dubai Ports are allowed to use the P&O logo on all their business interests.
I know the company is no longer subject to UK employment regulations and the ships are Cypriot flagged, but to continue to use the time-honoured P&O logo is an affront to the history of the once-proud P&O Company.
We had travelled to Dover to catch an early morning ferry and had no breakfast. They no longer serve cooked meals and we were directed to the forward bar where we were told hot food was available. The options were a sausage roll or a breakfast wrap. There were no sausage rolls and, unfortunately, I chose a breakfast wrap. The filling was something I can only describe as already half digested. The table was sticky and onboard passenger area cleanliness is a thing of the past, receiving minimal attention.
An email of complaint received no more than the standard reply of ‘We strive hard to maintain standards…’ and no other real apology or explanation.
We shall never again travel with DP-operated P&O Ferries.
Membership no 81996
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Help us remember MN veterans of D-Day in North Wales
The 6 June ceremonies in Portsmouth and Ver-sur-Mer commemorating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day Normandy Landings made little or no mention of the huge sacrifice and contribution made by the Fourth Service, the Merchant Navy. We intend to put this right in a ceremony in North Wales.
Corrupt port officials: what we all do to get by
Your article 'Corruption at ports endangering seafarers' in the May-June 2024 Telegraph covers a matter never discussed before I believe. I served as master worldwide for 25 years, and found demands of this kind frequently in Central and South America, and always at the Suez Canal.
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I don’t remember anyone saying that the crew members of the P&O ferries were signed off Articles by the shipping master prior to their removal from the vessels.