Never mind the construction delays or the cancellations inconveniencing the comfortable island retirees – 193 dead – there’s a ferry fiasco for you.
Above, the Herald of Free Enterprise, only a few minutes after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6th March 1987, killing 193 people on board.
Ironically, the UK Government of the day and for 8 years until then was Conservative, big champions of de-regulated capitalism and full-throated free enterprise.
According to research by Middlesex University:
One root cause was the failure of the assistant boatswain to close the bow door before dropping moorings, after he fell asleep on duty due to fatigue from working an excessively long shift.
We had here an inherently unsafe type of ship with staff working 24 hours shift and poor communication channels. It was a lethal system.
Working 24-hour shifts increases the risk of mistakes by staff which was compounded because the captain had no warning of such errors.
Fast forward to 2022 and another extreme right-wing Conservative government enables another Channel ferry company, P&O, to sack all their staff, to put passengers and replacement crew at risk of another incident resulting from low-paid, untrained, exhausted workers:
All crew working on P&O Ferries are low paid agency crew, predominantly recruited overseas by Maltese crewing agent IFM. IFM was set up to supply agency labour to P&O Ferries before the unlawful dismissal of nearly 800 directly employed UK ratings and officers last March.
Despite government’s protestations, an Indian AB on the Pride of Canterbury is contracted by IFM to work 17 weeks straight, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for a basic hourly rate of £3.94.
Imagine the strain – 119 days, at work every day for 12 hours.
Sources:
https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/lifeboat-falls-off-low-wage-pando-ferry
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Grant Shapps ( the man with many different aliases when conning people on the Internet )was the Transport Minister at the time and pledged ( must mean something different to Tories and Starmer ) to reclaim Furlough monies paid to P&O and to insist on Minimum Wage being paid to all employees .
Not a penny repaid (or even demanded back by the Tories ) and wage levels today on P&O ferries less than half of the Minimum Wage .
Another success for Tory Capitalism !
LikeLiked by 4 people
The british control Scotlands rail network and are responsible to maintain it. Presumably this is so they can commandeer it and militarise it without our permission should the need arise.
Grant Shapps was the man responsible when the poorly maitained tracks caused the deaths of three people in the derailment of a train at Stonehaven in 2020.
The BBC doorstepped the SNP for an explaination.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I see Rachel ‘I will be an IRON Chancellor’ Reeves is to address UK business leaders today. Will she repeat Bodger Broon’s ‘light touch regulation’ pledge? You have nothing to fear from Labour Profits and bonuses will continue?
Starmer in the Mirror says, “You can trust me.” Count the spoons! Check you still have your wallet!
Alasdair Macdonald.
LikeLiked by 1 person