A P&O ferry has been detained in Northern Ireland after being deemed "unfit to sail" just days after hundreds of UK staff were suddenly sacked.
The European Causeway vessel has been held in the Northern Ireland port due to "failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training", the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said he will not compromise the safety of P&O vessels and insisted that the company will not be able to rush training for inexperienced people.
READ MORE: The P&O Ferries 'fire and re-hire' scandal, what we know now, and could it happen again?
The company has sacked almost 800 seafarers and has already replaced them with agency staff on cheaper salaries.
A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "We can confirm that the European Causeway has been detained in Larne.
"It has been detained due to failures on crew familiarisation, vessel documentation and crew training. The vessel will remain under detention until all these issues are resolved by P&O Ferries. Only then will it be reinspected."
Mr Shapps tweeted: "Following my instruction to inspect all P&O vessels prior to entering back into service, the @MCA-Media has detained a ship for being unfit to sail.
"I will not compromise the safety of these vessels and P&O will not be able to rush inexperienced crew through training."
The detention of ships is based on concerns over their safety and to prevent them going to sea.
The European Causeway entered service in 2000 replacing the Pride of Rathlin, according to the P&O Ferries website.
"Specifically designed for our Cairnryan to Larne route, she has not operated elsewhere and has only been taken out of service if she needs a refit," the website said.
It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed Mr Shapps' call for P&O Ferries' chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite to quit, over the sacking of 800 workers without notice.
New staff were introduced after 800 of the firm's staff were sacked eight days ago.
Nearly a quarter of employees were told via a video message last Thursday that it was their "final day of employment". But many had already seen photographs of replacement agency staff waiting at UK ports wearing P&O uniforms before the broadcast was made.
The ro-ro firm cancelled all services for the next few days.
Now the company has finally spoken as it released a statement, saying it was a "difficult decision" to make and stressed the company would have gone under without taking the drastic steps.
P&O Ferries were dubbed 'brutal', 'unfair' and 'despicable' by heartbroken workers as the news of their sudden redundancies hit home.
In the wake of the scandal, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has supported the growing calls for shameless P&O chief Peter Hebblethwaite to step down.
And Mr Hebblethwaite has admitted the firm "chose" to break the law by failing to consult staff and unions before sacking 800 staff with a scripted call over Micrtosoft Teams.
He has claimed the sackings of 800 people were necessary or P&O would have been unable to continue operating - adding: "I would make the same decision again, I'm afraid."
He also claimed the firm warned Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last year that P&O would be "needing to make changes to our business this year.”
But Department for Transport (DFT) said it was "categorically untrue" that Mr Shapps was warned about redundancies.
Mr Hebblethwaite, who earns more than £300,000 a year, also confirmed the average wage among 'replacement' employees on P&O vessels will be £5.50 an hour - well below the minimum wage.
For some staff the wage could be as low as £5.15.
He told the Committee of MPs the wage levels were "competitive", and added: "Where we are required to pay national minimum wage, we will pay national minimum wage.”
Many seafaring crew don't have to be paid the minimum wage because their vessels are flagged in other countries and operate in international waters.
"There’s absolutely no doubt we were required to consult with the unions," Mr Hebblethwaite told MPs. "We chose not to do so."
