Seaborne ferry contract with Grayling office had no written backing

Transport department just accepted verbal ‘guarantees’ from firm with no ships, parliament watchdog toldThe 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 f