A CABIN assistant has won her claim for unfair dismissal after being made redundant by ferry firm P&O Stena.

Patricia Irastorza lost her job when P&O Stena ended its Elite fast service from Newhaven to Dieppe.

Mrs Irastorza claimed she was not given enough warning about the ending of her service.

Mrs Irastorza, 30, of Abbey Close, Peacehaven, had worked on board the Elite for more than two years.

She was offered the choice of losing her job or working 100 miles away from Dover one week on board ship and one week off.

The mother-of-two decided to take the £1,000 redundancy money offered because she could not work away from her family.

But she believed the company should have offered her alternative work or given her more time to find another job before ending her contract.

The company, which employs more than 4,000 staff, denied treating her unfairly.

It said it had followed company guidelines and explained the situation through union representatives.

The tribunal unanimously ruled the firm had been unfair and unreasonable and should have given her more personal consultation about her situation.

The tribunal will announce its decision on compensation on March 30.

Tribunal chairman Michael Davey said: "Nobody seems to have addressed their mind to conventional redundancy procedures."

He added that the firm's management must have been aware of the problems caused by the Elite for a long time.

The company could have given more warning that there were to be radical changes in the near future.

He said it was common sense for a company to communicate the changes to the workforce rather than allow union reps to do it instead.

The Brighton hearing was told the company had problems over a long period with the Elite.

The cost of repeated cancellations caused by mechanical problems mounted up and there were a huge number of complaints about the service.

This was added to problems caused by the loss of passengers to the Channel Tunnel.

Last autumn the staff were told the vessel was going in for long-term repairs.

But days later the company announced the Elite was not being bought back into service.

Staff were given three days to decide whether to agree to being transferred to Dover or to accept voluntary redundancy.

Thirty staff who worked on the Elite were involved and 22 went to Dover while the others took redundancy.

Since then the company has also taken out of service the ferry which operated on the same route and now all staff have been transferred to Dover or made redundant.

Mrs Irastorza, who was represented at the hearing by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, said: "The company did not give me time to do anything, to find out about moving to Dover or to find another job in this area.

She added: "It happened so fast. We were left in the dark."

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