A firm given a government contract to provide extra ferry services has used website terms and conditions seemingly intended for a takeaway food firm.
Seaborne Freight was last week given a £13.8 million contract to run a freight service between Ramsgate and Ostend in the event of a no-deal Brexit, despite not having any ferries.
The BBC has reported that its original terms and conditions advised customers to check goods before “agreeing to pay for any meal/order” and included information about “delivery charges”.
The apparent gaffe was first highlighted by Twitter user @ormondroyd who posted images of the original terms and conditions from Seaborne.
The wording of the terms and conditions has now been changed.
In a statement to the BBC, the Department for Transport said: “Before any contract was signed, due diligence on Seaborne Freight was carried out both by senior officials at the Department for Transport, and highly reputable independent third-party organisations with significant experience and expertise into Seaborne’s financial, technical and legal underpinning.”
The government has been criticised for awarding the contract to a firm which has never run a ferry service and has no ships.
Seaborne’s contract was one of three awarded to ease congestion at Dover, in the case of a no-deal Brexit.
The contingency plans allow for almost 4,000 more lorries a week to come and go from other ports, including Plymouth, Poole, and Portsmouth.
The Guardian said politicians had taken to Twitter to criticise Seaborne and transport secretary Chris Grayling, including Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, and Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary.
Labour MP, Tonia Antoniazzi, told the Guardian: “This is beyond a joke. It’s not just that the government have panic-hired a firm with no ships to conduct ferry services. That firm has literally nothing prepared to suggest the £13.8m handed over to them is a sound investment. They’ve seemingly copied and pasted their terms off a takeaway fast food website, and their login portal sends you back to Google.”