Seaborne ferry contract with Grayling office had no written backing

Ramsgate port, from where the Seaborne service was meant to operate.The top civil servant from Chris Grayling’s department has admitted the government did not have a written guarantee of secure financial backing before handing a £13.8m contract to a ferry company with no ships.Bernadette Kelly, the Department for Transport’s permanent secretary, told the public accounts committee that instead officials accepted verbal guarantees from Seaborne Freight and were reassured that the