UK starts criminal and civil probes into P&O Ferries job cuts

Britain's insolvency service has started formal criminal and civil investigations into P&O Ferries to look into the company's decision to fire hundreds of workers without notice last month, business minister Kwasi Kwarteng said on Friday.

"I can confirm that the Insolvency Service has initiated both formal criminal and civil investigations into the circumstances surrounding the recent redundancies made by P&O Ferries," Dean Beale, who heads the insolvency service, said in a letter to Kwarteng. The probe comes after P&O Ferries admitted to breaking the law in the manner in which it terminated about 800 workers last month, a move that has since caused major backlash from politicians and workers.