A chef brutally thrown out of his job by P&O has landed on his feet.

David Hubbard has been offered the same work by the White Horse pub in St James' Street, Dover.

He starts there next Wednesday, meaning he will have only suffered the nagging insecurity of unemployment for a few weeks.

Mr Hubbard, 49, who lives in Faversham, will have a past colleague as his boss, co-landlord Julian Crowley who had worked with him for the ferry company in the 2000s.

Mr Crowley said: "I had heard Dave was one of those who lost his job so I approached him to see if he could join us. There is some great talent on the galleys at P&O and I know how talented Dave is."

Mr Hubbard, who lives with his girlfriend and stepchild, said: "Getting this new job is absolutely brilliant. I was offered it just two to three weeks after I had to leave P&O.

"I had been with them for exactly 30 years. They were a great company to work for and I was proud to be there."

David Hubbard has been one of several former P&O workers rescued since the dismissals.

Other local organisations have since poured in offers of work, training and support.

Rival ferry firm DFDS has directly hired nearly 50 of the redundant seafarers.

Mr Hubbard added: "When I lost my job I was gutted. I was at home on a day off when I was told.

"I was one of those told by pre-recorded video. I was contacted first and told to get on a video call.

"I thought we would be fired and rehired.

"It was terrible the way they treated us in the end.

"I have been on two of the protest marches through Dover because of that, to express how I feel about what happened."

Mr Crowley had worked or P&O for 18 years and was a purser until he took voluntary redundancy in 2011.

He and Mr Hubbard worked together in the Pride of Kent from 2003 to 2009.

P&O Ferries has faced widespread criticism after it suddenly dismissed exactly 786 of its workers, nearly 600 based in Dover, and replaced them with cheaper labour.

Senior managers said this had to be done for the company's survival.

The sackings were on March 17 and it was only this week it restarted cross-Channel services, firstly for freight. Trial sailings took place initially, from Monday.

Sailings to and from Calais had been suspended since the dismissals, with some ships detained after failing safety tests by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

There have now been five trade union-led protest marches against the job losses, usually from the RMT's base at Snargate Street, Dover, to the Eastern Docks.

Yesterday, a job fair was held in Dover, where more than 1,000 employment opportunities were on offer.