Unruly tourists leave trail of anger

Group accused of littering linked to strife at eateries

Two restaurants have weighed in against a group of unruly tourists, accusing them of refusing to pay for meals after complaining they found hair in their food.

Staff at Mr India and The Backyard Bar & Restaurant in Northcote said a group ordered hundreds of dollars worth of meals at their restaurants.

The group also were accused of littering Takapuna Beach at the weekend.

An inner city coffee shop lodged a complaint with police after a group refused to pay for a chocolate cake and abused the owner.

When the Herald tracked down some of the travellers as they checked out of the ibis Budget Hotel in the city centre yesterday, one of the men seen in Sunday’s Takapuna Beach video warned there would be trouble if he was photographed.

The man said they were in New Zealand on holiday, before speeding off in a white van.

As he did so, his female passenger pulled her hoodie over her face and her door swung open, slamming into the car parked in front of them.

Roger Van Kempen, the manager of The Backyard Bar & Restaurant, said he recognised the man and little boy from the Takapuna video as part of a group of about 13 that caused a ruckus and tried to bully staff.

He claimed the group dined at his restaurant on January 3, put ants in their food and refused to pay for three meals worth about $55.

Challenged, one became aggressive.

“I looked at him and said, ‘mate, you’ve got something coming. You either need to back up or get out’,” Van Kempen said.

But the man continued to make a big scene, saying, “Do you know who we are?”

Van Kempen said he told the man, “I don’t care who you are, you don’t talk to people like that and you don’t act like that.”

Two nights later when Van Kempen wasn’t working, the group refused to pay for two more meals worth almost $60, claiming there was hair in it, he said. They also returned for drinks last night but paid for them.

Van Kempen said they would be refused entry from now on.

Harvinder Kaur, owner of nearby Mr India, said the same group of about 15 people visited her restaurant. She claimed they ate most of their food before putting hair in it and refusing to pay a $250 bill.

Krista Curnow earlier said she was threatened by tourists at Takapuna Beach.

Curnow said she asked the group to pick up their rubbish: “They were saying they were going to hit me . . .”

Video of the incident showed a boy shouting, “I’ll knock your brains out”.

Police are looking into what happened at Takapuna Beach on Sunday.