Massive queues built up at ports including Dover and Hull with protests and confused travellers after P&O ruthlessly sacked hundreds of staff, leaving some routes cancelled for ten days.
The 800 workers were sacked immediately, with no notice, and are set to be replaced by agency workers, leading to services halting at 11am on Thursday.
Security guards wearing balaclavas boarded ships with handcuffs to remove fired crew, it was alleged.
It led to widespread confusion at ports with passengers taken off ferries and told to await information amidst rumours they would need to use other services.
Furious passengers were initially told routes would be cancelled for a "few days" but then by up to 10 days as they locate new crews, it was reported.
Were you caught up in the chaos? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk
A van driver said the situation was an "absolute nightmare" with "no information".
Workers have told how they were given "five minutes to get their stuff and get off the ship", reported The Sun, with security guards wearing balaclavas came on board to remove people.
A dad said P&O was “stabbing us in the back” and that he had to "switch off" the call where he was told he was being sacked.
"They claim the firm is running at a £100 million loss but DP World who run it from Dubai is thriving," he said.
“What they want is British seafarers gone as they see us as too expensive. The new foreign workers are already on board.
"And I’ve got nothing against them. But clearly the company has been planning this behind our backs for a long time. It’s not fair.
“We should have been given notice. Not half an hour.”
Another 54-year-old engineer who has worked on ferries for over 30 years said: “This is no way to treat people.
“I’ve seen coachloads of agency crews waiting in the car park at Hythe services in Kent, just waiting to come down.”
Images from motorway cameras on the M20 and the M62 suggest the queues have cleared up this morning.
Crew members of the Pride of Hull staged a protest after hearing news of their redundancies, refusing to get off the ship as instructed.
RMT member and regional organiser for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, Gaz Jackson, shared several video updates during the sit-in.
At around 11am said of the stand-off: "We've got a real situation going on on the ground. We've got a coachload of Filipino ratings waiting to take over from our British crew and also a coachload of heavy hands that are supposed to be handcuff-trained.
"So I'm expecting us to be lynched off this vessel, but me and other members are going to stay on here as long as it takes to get this situation resolved."
The ship's Captain, Dutchman Eugene Favier, said he would refuse to let police on board if they attempted.
When he left the ship to talk to management, agency staff boarded and the sit in was brought to a close at around 4.30pm.
Unions and politicians condemned the move, blamed by the company on losses of £100 million following the slump in travel because of the pandemic.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) is seeking legal advice to challenge the sackings.
It said the UK has seen one of the most “vicious examples of despotic employer behaviour” and one of the most shameful episodes in its recent industrial history.
Announcing the decision on Thursday, the ferry operator, bought by Dubai-based logistics giant DP World in 2019, insisted the decision to cut jobs was “very difficult but necessary” as it was “not a viable business” in its current state.
The union called for mass trade union and wider public support for demonstrations in Dover, Liverpool and Hull on Friday.
In a message to RMT members, general secretary Mick Lynch said: “It was with deep shock that I learned the news of the wholesale job cuts taking place at P&O Ferries, but I am sure that my shock was nothing as compared to the devastation this news brought to you and your colleagues.
“P&O’s decision to lay off 800 workers is a kick in the teeth to the hard-working members of staff who have kept the business running through the global health crisis.
“The RMT has received reports that security guards at Dover have boarded ships with handcuffs to remove crew so they can be replaced with cheaper labour. This union is horrified that P&O Ferries can treat their loyal workforce in such a despicable manner.
“P&O Ferries claimed almost £15 million in Government grants in 2020, which included furlough payments for its employees. P&O is owned by DP World, the multi-national ports and logistics company based in Dubai. It paid a £270 million dividend to shareholders in 2020.
“This appalling situation has arisen as a result of DP World wishing to maximise their profits and the failure of the Government to intervene and protect the jobs of you and your colleagues.
“Your union is seeking advice on what legal action can be taken.”
Mark Dickinson of Nautilus International said there are "serious safety concerns" around the decision to replace the seafarers with agency workers.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There are serious safety concerns, which is why the company cannot reintroduce services with the lower-paid agency crew that they've recruited via this company called International Ferry Management of Malta."
Mr Dickinson said the Maritime Coastguard Agency must be "absolutely clear and confident that those new crew, unfamiliar with the vessels, unfamiliar with the routes, with the berths" can operate ships safely.
He added: "This is an intensely worrying situation.
"We've written to the Maritime Coastguard Agency and we hope and we pray that they will do their job.
"I know they will. They will do their job and make sure the ships are safe."
He added: "It is a dark day in the shipping industry.
"I've been in this game for over 40 years and I've seen some curveballs and some shocking developments over that time, but this is a new low for a shipping company.
"To treat the due legal process in such an underhand and callous way has shocked me, taken my breath away."
Conservative MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the Transport Select Committee, said P&O had made “an appalling error”.
“If they do not reverse immediately and reinstate the employees and follow proper process, it’s hard to see a way back for them commercially,” he said.
“The parent DP World needs to understand that the British public will not do business with companies who treat their employees with such contempt.”
Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “This is not a corporate restructure. It’s not the way we go about business in this country.
“It is beneath contempt; the action of thugs.”
P&O Ferries said in a statement: “We have made a £100 million loss year-on-year, which has been covered by our parent, DP World. This is not sustainable.
“Our survival is dependent on making swift and significant changes now. Without these changes there is no future for P&O Ferries.”
