AN MP has described the uncertainty surrounding the future of Hoverspeed as "appallingly shoddy".

Hoverspeed staff are being given their notice as the company prepares to close for the winter months, as it has done for the past two seasons.

But there are fears it may end its Dover-Calais fast-ferry service altogether, resulting in the loss of more than 100 Dover-based jobs. The company is advertising sailings up to December 23, with the current seven return crossings a day reducing to four as from Tuesday.

In August, James Sherwood, president of Hoverspeed’s parent company Sea Containers, said the results of the company’s ferry operations were "obviously unsatisfactory".

The company has suspended its quarterly cash dividends on the company’s Class A and Class B common shares, which would normally have been paid next month, saying "major changes" in its ferry operations would be announced "soon".

But Dover MP Gwyn Prosser has condemned the company for being "secretive".

He said: "The whole thing has been handled in an appallingly shoddy way. I have never known such a secretive manner. It’s unfair to the staff and to the town of Dover who want to know what is happening so they can prepare for the future."

Talks are taking place over plans to continue operating a Seacat service from Dover Hoverport should Hoverspeed pull out. No-one was prepared to comment as talks were said to be at a "sensitive stage".

It is understood that a businessman is inquiring about chartering a Seacat which could be run on a similar basis to SpeedFerries which operates a service to Boulogne.