Car maker Rover, which got rid of 5,400 workers last year, was heading into stormy waters today for treating its top dealers to a £500,000 Caribbean cruise on a luxury liner.

The company, with bases in Cowley, Oxford and Longbridge, Birmingham, has hired the luxury Cunard liner Sea Goddess I for an all-expenses-paid trip for 50 of its most successful dealers and their wives.

Rover, which has just been given a subsidy of £150m by the Government to stave off further job losses - defended the trip as a run-of-the-mill business practice.

But a former passenger, who could not book a cruise because Rover has hired the ship, has criticised the firm for its double standards. The passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "How can they justify spending this sort of cash with all the money trouble they are in? I accept the idea of sales incentives, but this is way over the top."

He added: "This ship is the last word in sea-going luxury. "They just pamper you to death. You can order caviar and champagne, for nothing, any time of the day or night."

The cruise ship carries up to 116 passengers for a brochure price of £4,000 per person for one week. As well as swimming pools and Jacuzzis, the ship has 58 staterooms, all with their own bathroom and lounge.

Rover said the dealers on the cruise came top in the 1998 sales incentive scheme. During the same year, the company had 5,400 job losses and another 2,400 redundancies are in the pipeline.

It said: "The trips are quite a routine way of doing business with your dealers.

"These campaigns are important to motivate and ensure that dealers achieve the targets set for them."

Story date: Monday 12 April

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