Peter John Ford,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 21 November 1938) was Executive Chairman of

P&O European Ferries P&O European Ferries (formerly Townsend Thoresen), a division of P&O Ferries, was a ferry company which operated in the English Channel from 1987 after the ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' disaster, when '' Townsend Thoresen'' was renamed ''P&O E ...

and

North Sea Ferries North Sea Ferries was a ferry company which operated between 1965 and 1996 when it was merged into P&O Operations (P&O North Sea Ferries), it had routes from Hull to Rotterdam (Europort) and Zeebrugge. P&O North Sea Ferries was then merged wi ...

in the 1970 and 1980s, and Chairman of

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

from 1994 until 1998.

History

Townsend Thoresen and P&O

Ford was Chairman of

Townsend Thoresen European Ferries Group plc was a company that operated in passenger and freight ferries, harbour operation and property management in the United Kingdom and the United States. It was taken over by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Com ...

at the time of the ''

MS Herald of Free Enterprise MS ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' was a roll-on/roll-off (RORO) ferry which capsized moments after leaving the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on the night of 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers and crew. The eight-deck car and passenger ferry was ow ...

'' disaster in 1987. Following the disaster, Ford was criticised for underestimating the number of people killed in the disaster.

London Transport

Ford was appointed as Chairman of

(LT) in September 1994, replacing

Sir Wilfrid Newton Sir Charles Wilfrid Newton, CBE (11 December 1928 – 28 November 2012) was managing director of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway Corporation (MTRC) in the 1980s and London Regional Transport in the 1990s. History Charles Wilfrid Newton was bo ...

. During Ford's tenure, the number of passengers on

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

and

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

continued to rise - however cuts by the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

of £375m and cost overruns of £500m on the

Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the line was first proposed in the 1970s. As part of the development of London Docklands, ...

project increased the maintenance backlog on the Underground and worsened LT's financial position. In April 1998, amid furore over the potential imposition of

Public private partnership In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

(PPP) on

, Ford was removed as Chairman of LT by then

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

John Prescott John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...

due to his opposition to PPP. Following this, Ford was highly critical of the government’s plan during a

select committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...

, stating that ''"It’s going to be very difficult to make it work, and I think there is a very big element of uncertainty about the whole thing".'' Ford was replaced as Chairman by

Sir Malcolm Bates Sir Malcolm Rowland Bates (23 September 1934 - 30 May 2009) was a British industrialist. He served as the chairman of London Regional Transport from 1999 to 2003. Bates was born in Portsmouth, attended Portsmouth Grammar School, and served in th ...

- one of the architects behind the PPP. Ford received a

golden handshake A golden handshake is a clause in an executive employment contract that provides the executive with a significant severance package in the case that the executive loses their job through firing, restructuring, or even scheduled retirement. This can ...

of £350,000 - the balance of his contract. He was made a

in June 1998.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Peter People associated with transport in London 20th-century English businesspeople 1938 births Living people P&O (company)

History

Townsend Thoresen and P&O

London Transport

See also

References