Ferry company awarded £13.8m government contract despite having no ships 'copied and pasted parts of website from takeaway outlet'

Seaborne Freight's terms and conditions tell customers to give correct address 'for the delivery driver' and check goods 'before agreeing to pay for any meal/order'

Government ministers have been criticised after awarding a multimillion pound contract to a ferry company that appears to have copied its terms and conditions from a takeaway outlet.

Seaborne Freight, which is receiving £13.8m of public money to provide ferry transport in the event of a no-deal Brexit, despite not owning any ferries, has a section on its website that refers to “placing an order” and advising customers to check goods “before agreeing to pay for any meal/order”.

The text tells customers they must “ensure delivery address details are correct and detailed enough for the delivery driver to locate the address in adequate time”.

Visitors to the website are also told they must provide a valid contact number “when ordering online” and warned that “undelivered orders will be chargeable”.

The Department for Transport’s decision to award Seaborne Freight one of three contracts to provide additional Channel crossings was criticised after it emerged that the company does not own any ferries. It has also never run cross-Channel services.

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, defended the move, insisting the government wanted to support “a new startup business”.

The discovery that the company appeared to have “copied and pasted” its terms and conditions from a takeaway restaurant was mocked by Labour MPs.

Tom Watson, the party’s deputy leader, wrote on Twitter: “Seaborne Freight. No ships, no trading history and website T&Cs copied and pasted from a takeaway delivery site...”

Darren Jones, MP for Bristol North West, wrote: “Hilarious. Government hard Brexit start-up champion Seaborne Freight Limited reserves the right to sue you if you order a hoax pizza.”

And Mike Gapes, MP for Ilford South, tweeted: “Well. Well. Fish and Chips, Curry, Chinese, Kebab or Pizza. Seaborne Freight certainly have plans to Take Away our money.”

Tonia Antoniazzi, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for another referendum, added: “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.

“The whole thing looks like a scam website. I can’t think of a worse way to show the world we’re ready for Brexit.”

Asked about the apparent mistake, a Department for Transport spokesperson said: “This section of the terms and conditions on the company’s website was put up in error. This is being immediately rectified.”

The government is spending a total of £108m on chartering ferries to transport goods and reduce congestion at Dover in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The deal will see two other companies, Danish firm DFDS and French company Brittany Ferries appointed to provide freight services if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.

Seaborne Freight has been instructed to operate ferries from Ramsgate in Kent to Ostend in Belgium, beginning with two ships in late March and increasing to four by the end of the summer.

The company said it had been working since 2017 on reopening a ferry route from Ramsgate, including “locating suitable vessels, making arrangements with the ports of Ostend and Ramsgate, building the infrastructure – such as bunkering – as well as crewing the ferries once they start operating”.

It added: “It was intended to start the service in mid-February but this has now been delayed until late March for operational reasons.

“This coincides with the Department for Transport’s freight capacity purchase agreement with Seaborne which is part of their preparations to increase ferry capacity in the unlikely event of a no-deal Brexit.”

But a Conservative councillor for Ramsgate questioned the decision to award the contract to the firm.

Paul Messenger told the BBC: “It has no ships and no trading history so how can due diligence be done?

“Why choose a company that never moved a single truck in their entire history and give them £14m? I don’t understand the logic of that.”