Two P&O agency workers say they were sacked without notice for having limited English language skills.

Jose Alfaro, from Honduras, and Hugo Corleto, from Guatemala, were chefs on the Pride of Kent.

They were among the new workers after nearly 800 staff were dismissed without notice by P&O Ferries on March 17.

But the pair say their contract has been cut short, with barely one day's notice.

They said they felt "bullied" over the language barrier.

Mr Alfaro told ITV yesterday: "They said we must speak good English but there are plenty of people from other countries who have the same problem. There are Indian and French people.

"The experience in this company is very bad."

Mr Corleto said: "I don't sleep so much, I have so much stress."

He said he was working shifts of up to 12 hours a day.

The two men spoke outside the Travelodge at St James' Retail and Leisure Park in Dover, where they had been staying.

They were due to leave the town to catch flights home that day.

The RMT trade union is looking into the men's complaints.

National secretary Darren Procter told Meridian: "What this identifies is that there is a systematic culture of exploitation now within P&O and that they will do anything possible to maximise profit.

"If that means jeopardising safety if that means bringing seafarers from the other side of the world and exploiting them on whatever terms then so be it because that's what they have become."

In a statement, a spokesman for P&O Ferries told Kent Online: "A small number of seafarers, four, were released from the Pride of Kent by our crew manager, IFM, as they did not meet the IFM standards which are required by P&O as ship owner.

"They were provided with hotel accommodation by IFM and had their return flights paid. They were treated in accordance with their contracts in relation to their pay and end of contract provisions, with benefits provided beyond the contractual requirements applicable in the situation.

“P&O continue to require industry leading standards from our crews,”

The Pride of Kent this week failed its third safety test from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

It is one of the P&O's ferries that has never sailed since March 17.

The beleaguered company took on its first commercial sailing to Calais, for freight, on April 26 since the mass sackings in March.

It resumed sailings for passengers on Tuesday.

But only the Spirit of Britain, which cleared MCA safety checks by April 22, can sail.

Peter Hebblethwaite, chief executive of P&O Ferries, has admitted to a committee of MPs on March 24 that agency workers replacing those sacked on March 17 were only paid an average £5.50 an hour.

He explained that was covered by maritime law although the minimum wage in the UK for people aged 23 and above was then £8.91 per hour. His basic annual salary is £325,000.