# P&O Ferries



## Clic Clac

A quick 'Heads Up' if you are booked with P&O or thinking of travelling with them.

They have currently suspended all sailings and apparently sacked all their staff and are organising agency labour to fill the positions.

It sounds like rough seas ahead ...a major announcement is due this afternoon.


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## boilerman

Is this to do with rising fuel prices, or is that they're in the do,do. Cant understand how any ferry company could survive Covid. I hope Brittany Ferries are ok








P&O Ferries makes 800 staff redundant and warns of 'significant disruption' to services 'over next few days'


Crew on all ships have been asked to discharge their passengers and cargo and "standby for further instructions", but one union has told its members to stay on board.




news.sky.com


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## BarbTF

One of the things I love about Britain is how they politely apologize and everyone just carries on as usual. "Unfortunately the Blue Line of the London Underground will be infested with large hungry crocodiles this week. We apologise for the inconvenience." Meanwhile the Londoners just calmly go about their usual business, queueing politely while every 10th passenger or so is ripped to bloody shreds and eaten by large crocodiles on the platform.

In this situation I expect we'll see crowds of Brits with their cars on the shore attaching large quantities of these, in order to get to France without the ferries: Swimming Pool Noodle Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock


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## boilerman

boilerman said:


> Is this to do with rising fuel prices, or is that they're in the do,do. Cant understand how any ferry company could survive Covid. I hope Brittany Ferries are ok
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> P&O Ferries makes 800 staff redundant and warns of 'significant disruption' to services 'over next few days'
> 
> 
> Crew on all ships have been asked to discharge their passengers and cargo and "standby for further instructions", but one union has told its members to stay on board.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> news.sky.com


Cant believe they just sacked 800 people and then took on agency staff. I got replaced once by agency staff, and they were being paid more than me.
I feel for the loyal employees, sad times indeed


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> Is this to do with rising fuel prices, or is that they're in the do,do. Cant understand how any ferry company could survive Covid. I hope Brittany Ferries are ok


Rising everything over there it seems.
The company lost £100 million last year, and there's talk that they have 40% Russian shareholders.

P&O sent in the Heavy Mob to *handcuff* staff and march them off the ferries.
I can see this becoming the biggest PR disaster since Gerald Ratner made his speech.


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> Rising everything over there it seems.
> The company lost £100 million last year, and there's talk that they have 40% Russian shareholders.
> 
> P&O sent in the Heavy Mob to *handcuff* staff and march them off the ferries.
> I can see this becoming the biggest PR disaster since Gerald Ratner made his speech.


How could we forget


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> How could we forget


Thirty seconds gag and he wiped £500 million of the share price in a week. 

Let's see if P&O can match him.😅


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> Thirty seconds gag and he wiped £500 million of the share price in a week.
> 
> Let's see if can match him.😅


Ironically, Two of P&O's ships are called "Pride of Dover" and "Pride of Calais" Oh dear


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## BarbTF

The corporate world these days--we're back in the times of sweatshops and robber barons, almost. A couple years ago I suffered a similar fate: "Hey, thanks for taking care of our largest customer for this subscription product for the past 21 years, and keeping them so happy that we have now sold the product itself to them! Here's 1 month of severance pay and don't let the door hit you on the way out. Good luck finding a comparable job in the middle of a pandemic!" I wasn't handcuffed, but I worked from an office in my home so my refusing to leave the premises wasn't anything they had to worry about. (And yes, I found a comparable job with my former customer who is now the product owner, for over 25% less money than I had been making.)

I do sympathize with these folks. It's a cold cold world these days. In the name of efficiency and value for the shareholders...allegedly.


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## Clic Clac

BarbTF said:


> I do sympathize with these folks. It's a cold cold world these days. In the name of efficiency and *value for the shareholders*...allegedly.


It will be interesting to see if they start to dump stock in the morning. 
Sacked by Zoom with no notice period, manhandled, and potentially breaking employment law. 
Even Boris and his Tory Cabinet are criticising P&O, coupled with Headline news even in the middle of the Ukraine war.

One ferry Captain in Hull is becoming a cult hero after invoking Maritime Law, pulling up the gangplank and organising a crew lock-in to repel invaders. 😅


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## boilerman

BarbTF said:


> The corporate world these days--we're back in the times of sweatshops and robber barons, almost. A couple years ago I suffered a similar fate: "Hey, thanks for taking care of our largest customer for this subscription product for the past 21 years, and keeping them so happy that we have now sold the product itself to them! Here's 1 month of severance pay and don't let the door hit you on the way out. Good luck finding a comparable job in the middle of a pandemic!" I wasn't handcuffed, but I worked from an office in my home so my refusing to leave the premises wasn't anything they had to worry about. (And yes, I found a comparable job with my former customer who is now the product owner, for over 25% less money than I had been making.)
> 
> I do sympathize with these folks. It's a cold cold world these days. In the name of efficiency and value for the shareholders...allegedly.


Tough luck Barb, been there and got the Tee shirt, as have loads of us. The thing is, they may do their worst to us, but they wont stop us being who we are. I'm lucky enough to be better off now, not working for them, and that's not financially either.


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> *Even Boris and his Tory Cabinet are criticising P&O,*


Why, have they got shares?

Cpt Birdseye,


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> Why, have they got shares?


Only until tomorrow's opening bell.

Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeell. 😄


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## tardigrade

What happened in 1987 with this company? 187 killed? Where was it? The channel?


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## Clic Clac

tardigrade said:


> What happened in 1987 with this company? 187 killed? Where was it? The channel?


Zeebrugge Disaster.

193 died, but that was a Townsend Thoresen ferry, MS Herald of Free Enterprise .


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## tardigrade

Clic Clac said:


> Zeebrugge Disaster.
> 
> 193 died, but that was a Townsend Thoresen ferry, MS Herald of Free Enterprise .


I think it was the same company... P&O


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## eairicbloodaxe

tardigrade said:


> I think it was the same company... P&O


Nope, it was TT. MS Herald of Free Enterprise - Wikipedia

(Although if you are being pedantic, TT was a separate company which was owned by the European Group, which was in turn owned by P&O)


Kind regards


Ian


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## Peasant

Screw P&O.


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## Peasant

boilerman said:


> Cant believe they just sacked 800 people and then took on agency staff.


When did "scabs" become "agency staff"?


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## boilerman

Peasant said:


> When did "scabs" become "agency staff"?


When it suited them. 

It makes no sense, agency "scabs" are always more expensive to hire.


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## boilerman

tardigrade said:


> I think it was the same company... P&O


...and back to WUM land


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> It makes no sense, agency "scabs" are always more expensive to hire.


Many are cheap foreign labour on just over 2 Quid an hour, but they'll no doubt have all the maritime qualifications required to evacuate a stricken ship. 😳

To be fair, quite a few of the Brits sent by the agency refused to board once they realised that they weren't just additional staff.


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## Crabtree

Apparently a lot of the "agency" staff are Philipinos having been recruited bu agents over there and being paid the local rate in the Philipinnes but this looks like the way things are going post Brexit....
Apparently a lot of the staff who were employed in UK test and trace centres by outsourcing firm Mitie were paid through Philippino shell companies so the companies could avoid uk NI etc When rumbled they claimed it was a "mistake"


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## Clic Clac

Crabtree said:


> but this looks like the way things are going post Brexit....


Talking of the B word, I noticed Boris Churchill reappeared as the Clown Prince at the conference yesterday, just in time to compare the UK's Brexit struggle to Ukraine's current struggle for democracy. 🙉


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## BackinFrance

Clic Clac said:


> Talking of the B word, I noticed Boris Churchill reappeared as the Clown Prince at the conference yesterday, just in time to compare the UK's Brexit struggle to Ukraine's current struggle for democracy. 🙉


I sincerely hope that is not true!


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> Talking of the B word, I noticed Boris Churchill reappeared as the Clown Prince at the conference yesterday,* just in time to compare the UK's Brexit struggle to Ukraine's current struggle for democracy. 🙉*


He what??? He really shouldn't be allowed to talk out loud


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## Clic Clac

BackinFrance said:


> I sincerely hope that is not true!











Fury as Boris Johnson compares Ukraine fight to Brexit vote | ITV News


Boris Johnson suggested the invasion of Ukraine was motivated by Vladimir Putin’s fears about a revolution against his autocratic rule. | ITV National News




www.itv.com





I'm embarrassed and he's not even my PM. 🤯


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## BackinFrance

Clic Clac said:


> Fury as Boris Johnson compares Ukraine fight to Brexit vote | ITV News
> 
> 
> Boris Johnson suggested the invasion of Ukraine was motivated by Vladimir Putin’s fears about a revolution against his autocratic rule. | ITV National News
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.itv.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm embarrassed and he's not even my PM. 🤯


I can't understand what they are saying, sorry.


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## Clic Clac

BackinFrance said:


> I can't understand what they are saying, sorry.


Me neither. 😅

Boris likes to quote Latin and big words from Eton when he wants to confuse us peasants.

He compared Ukraine choosing freedom to the people of the UK choosing Brexit.


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## boilerman

BackinFrance said:


> I can't understand what they are saying, sorry.


He's an insensitive ignoramus, no wonder you don't understand. I don't. But by trying to explain what he's said, it almost gives him credence, that he doesn't deserve.
*"Boris Johnson has compared Ukraine choosing freedom, to people of the United Kingdom choosing Brexit, in his Conservative Party conference speech."*

As if fighting to be democratic(Ukraine) , is anything like the lying/ pseudo, freedom argument, involved in Brexit


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## BackinFrance

Clic Clac said:


> Me neither. 😅
> 
> Boris likes to quote Latin and big words from Eton when he wants to confuse us peasants.
> 
> He compared Ukraine choosing freedom to the people of the UK choosing Brexit.


I can't understand any of the accents.


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## Chrissippus

boilerman said:


> Is this to do with rising fuel prices, or is that they're in the do,do. Cant understand how any ferry company could survive Covid. I hope Brittany Ferries are ok
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> P&O Ferries makes 800 staff redundant and warns of 'significant disruption' to services 'over next few days'
> 
> 
> Crew on all ships have been asked to discharge their passengers and cargo and "standby for further instructions", but one union has told its members to stay on board.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> news.sky.com


It has to do with Brexit which stripped British workers of their employment rights they formerly enjoyed as EU citizens. The replacement workers are not British, which, since these are low-paying jobs for which it is normally very difficult to obtain a visa, the Home Secretary must have given them special permission to enter. The majority owner of the parent company of P & O is the Saudi royal family. Boris Johnson met with Mohammed Bin Salman in SA the day before the lay off announcement.


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## boilerman

Chrissippus said:


> It has to do with Brexit which stripped British workers of their employment rights they formerly enjoyed as EU citizens. The replacement workers are not British, which, since these are low-paying jobs for which it is normally very difficult to obtain a visa, the* Home Secretary must have given them special permission to enter.* The majority owner of the parent company of P & O is the Saudi royal family. Boris Johnson met with Mohammed Bin Salman in SA the day before the lay off announcement.


That's just what I've found out, 10 mins ago from my son, who knows this sort of thing
Thanks Chris


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## BoilingFrog

My understanding is:

1. Employment laws have not yet changed post Brexit, so this could have happened at any time, even while we were in the EU
2. It is only possible due to the fact these are maritime workers and somehow therefore are not covered by eg minimum wage rules, so cheap foreign labour can be used.
3. Despite the above, a company planning to sack more than 100 people must notify sec of state and must give sufficient (45 days I think) notice of this to employees.

So even with the fact this is allowed under the existing rules, they have broken various laws in the heavy handed manner they did it. Unfortunately they may well have taken the view that it was worth the reputational hit in order to expedite the process.

I guess the only thing we as punters can do is not use P and O any more. As above with Ratners which plunged in value, that might make the present owners sell it off and we can but hope new owners would be more ethical.


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## Peasant

BackinFrance said:


> I sincerely hope that is not true!


It's true. Sad, but true.


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## Clic Clac

BoilingFrog said:


> I guess the only thing we as punters can do is not use P and O any more.


Unfortunately most people have short memories, but the CC Clan won't be darkening their on-ramp until all the staff that want to be reinstated are back at work on their original contract terms. 

Apart from the principal I'm not entrusting Junior's safety to untrained, desperate staff who are happy to relocate halfway around the world for 2 quid an hour. 

We've got 'previous' for it, too. 
Won't ever visit Alton Towers after they put down all their healthy pet animals just so they could open during the foot & mouth crisis. 
That was 2001.

Never Forgive. Never Forget. 😳😉


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> Unfortunately most people have short memories, but the CC Clan won't be darkening their on-ramp until all the staff that want to be reinstated are back at work on their original contract terms.
> 
> Apart from the principal I'm not entrusting Junior's safety to untrained, desperate staff who are happy to relocate halfway around the world for 2 quid an hour.
> 
> *We've got 'previous' for it, too.
> Won't ever visit Alton Towers after they put down all their healthy pet animals just so they could open during the foot & mouth crisis.
> That was 2001.
> 
> Never Forgive. Never Forget*. 😳😉


Love it

I wont buy Dyson products on the same principal...after moving to Malaysia to exploit cheap labour


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> I wont buy Dyson products on the same principal...


I won't buy Dyson either.
Too expensive, and I'm too bloody tight. 🇬🇧😂


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## Franco-Belgian Brit

My list includes Dyson, Nestlé (including subsidiaries) and now P&O.

I had no intention of visiting Alton Towers, but I'll add them to the list as well anyway.


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## Lydi

I see I'm going to have to extend our exclusion list.
We have Danone and Lu (amongst others) on ours.


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## tardigrade

if you look at any corporation deeply you all will not have any company(ies) to purchase from...


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## bhamham

I won't be using the services or buying anything from these companies - scroll down to #5 Grade F









Over 1,000 Companies Have Curtailed Operations in Russia—But Some Remain







som.yale.edu


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## BackinFrance

TotalEnergies has been on the top of my exclusion list, including under its former name, for years and I don't understand why it's not listed under #5. I admit I have a very long list. Some of the companies on the list posted by bhamham I need to think about though, given the numbers of employees here in France and the fact that they don't actually produce in Russia. Other concerns for me are of course abuse of workers, working conditions here in France, environmental impact, the extent to which they are prepared to relocate production back to France for the local market, trustworthiness in terms of doing what they promise, working conditions etc.


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## tardigrade

BackinFrance said:


> TotalEnergies has been on the top of my exclusion list, including under its former name, for years and I don't understand why it's not listed under #5. I admit I have a very long list. Some of the companies on the list posted by bhamham I need to think about though, given the numbers of employees here in France and the fact that they don't actually produce in Russia. Other concerns for me are of course abuse of workers, working conditions here in France, environmental impact, the extent to which they are prepared to relocate production back to France for the local market, trustworthiness in terms of doing what they promise, working conditions etc.


I do not have a list but 1 entity - BP for what they did in the Gulf of Mexico and their response..


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## BackinFrance

Russia: A country of oil spills – DW – 03/29/2021


With an oil leak occurring somewhere in the country almost every half hour, Russia records many more spills than other oil-rich states. One hotspot is the Komi Republic in the far north.




m.dw.com


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## tardigrade

BackinFrance said:


> Russia: A country of oil spills – DW – 03/29/2021
> 
> 
> With an oil leak occurring somewhere in the country almost every half hour, Russia records many more spills than other oil-rich states. One hotspot is the Komi Republic in the far north.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> m.dw.com


I do not see the problem; it just goes back into the ground to repeat the process or be sold to Shell or India or china


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## BoilingFrog

tardigrade said:


> I do not see the problem; it just goes back into the ground to repeat the process or be sold to Shell or India or china


i really hope that was intended as a silly remark. Or you really have no concept of how oil extraction works.


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## boilerman

BoilingFrog said:


> i really hope that was intended as a silly remark. Or you really have no concept of how oil extraction works.


He's a WUM, he's just not very good at it


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## Franco-Belgian Brit

Now Renault restarting manufacturing at the Moscow plant.


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## BackinFrance

Franco-Belgian Brit said:


> Now Renault restarting manufacturing at the Moscow plant.


What else would you expect from Renault? Look at their track record. And no doubt you know that Renault owns Dacia, manufactured in Roumania, but they pay workers at rates and on conditions that could only be described as slave labour.


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## Clic Clac

P&O didn't want to 'Chat'.


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## Clic Clac

Not sure about the P&O boss being a seaman, but he's definitely a 'Merchant'. 



https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=p+and+o+boss+parliament


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> Not sure about the P&O boss being a seaman, but he's definitely a* 'Merchant'.*
> 
> 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=p+and+o+boss+parliament



Dear me, the man has no shame


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## SPGW

Thanks for the link. Extraordinary. Good questioning - not all MPs are crap. £ 325K salary!! Should pick a random £5/hr guy to replace him, would do at least as good a job. ( not to mention creating a cooperative of Chelsea supporters to own the club). Why didn’t he do the decent thing and let the company go out of business, instead of breaking the law?
Well, if P&O survive they go on my list, joined now by the Auchan-Leroy M-Décathlon group ( unless they announce they’ll invest their Russian profits in rebuilding Ukraine).


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> Dear me, the man has no shame


This week he's Mr P&O.

Next week he's Mr P45. 😂


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## Clic Clac

SPGW said:


> Well, if P&O survive they go on my list


One down...

A P&O ferry has been seized by the Coastguard in Northern Ireland, so it has. 

The vessel was judged to be 'unfit to sail' due to failures in crew training.


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## Bevdeforges

Clic Clac said:


> One down...
> 
> A P&O ferry has been seized by the Coastguard in Northern Ireland, so it has.
> 
> The vessel was judged to be 'unfit to sail' due to failures in crew training.


Not unlike the circumstances with the airplanes in Russia being leased from some Irish leasing outfit. Hm, maybe the ferry was an oligarch's yacht going camouflage....


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## Clic Clac

Bevdeforges said:


> Not unlike the circumstances with the airplanes in Russia being leased from some Irish leasing outfit. Hm, maybe the ferry was an oligarch's yacht going camouflage....


The airline leasing companies have always been as hard as nails.
If the monthly payment was one day late then the plane was taken back, and word soon got round the other airlines.✈✈✈


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## boilerman

"That's a cracker"


Clic Clac said:


> One down...
> 
> A P&O ferry has been seized by the Coastguard in Northern Ireland,* so it has.*
> 
> The vessel was judged to be 'unfit to sail' due to failures in crew training.


Thats a cracker


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## BoilingFrog

i'm sure there's more, and i'll come here for it...


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## Clic Clac

boilerman said:


> "That's a cracker"
> 
> Thats a cracker


I thought I would just slip that one in quietly and see if anyone would twig. ☘🤣☘


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> I thought I would just slip that one in quietly and see if anyone would twig. ☘🤣☘


It must have been before the bar opened😄


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## Clic Clac

Clic Clac said:


> One down...


Two down... 👌

A second P&O ferry has been detained by the Coastguard. 

The 'Pride of Kent' (which used to do a great Full English) was deemed to be unfit to sail and remains in Dover port.


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## boilerman

Clic Clac said:


> Two down... 👌
> 
> A second P&O ferry has been detained by the Coastguard.
> 
> The 'Pride of Kent' (which used to do a great Full English) was deemed to be unfit to sail and remains in Dover port.


Does this get any better, all we want now is for Grant Shapps to ask them to reinstate the workers🤣🤣🤣


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## Clic Clac

Peasant said:


> Screw P&O.


We have. 😜

Clicky, a man of his word. 

We sailed with DFDS this morning.


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