‘Unruly’ family hits Welly
The travelling family who have become famous for their escapades in Auckland and Hamilton have been accused of telling lies to talk their way into a motel in northern Wellington.
A duty manager at the motel in Newlands, who did not want to be named, said a woman she believed to be one of the family members showed up at her motel reception yesterday afternoon, claiming they had a booking.
The rest of the tourists ‘‘hid outside in their dark grey people mover’’, while the woman claimed her brother had made a booking for the group of 10.
But the duty manager was having none of it. The motel was fully booked and she knew the group had not made a booking, so she ‘‘sent them on their way’’.
The motel referred them on to another one nearby.
Newlands Court Motel manager Wayne Xuan said at first one person from the group came in and wanted to book a studio room, which can accommodate only one or two people.
‘‘Then I saw they lied. They had like six people with them. I said it’s not allowed, you have to book a family unit.
‘‘But they didn’t want to, it was too expensive. They weren’t rude but they did try to trick me.’’ He said they then left. Earlier yesterday, Bart Blithe was at the Z Tawa service station in the northern Wellington suburb about 2.10pm when he spotted a member of the family.
‘‘I would swear on oath [it was them]. I was here and warned staff before they even got the fuel nozzle in their car,’’ he said.
‘‘I advised staff who they were and to keep an eye on them.’’
Blithe said they asked the staff to charge a flat cellphone, bought a Coke, then ‘‘had a smoke’’.
‘‘[They] got their phone and left without stealing anything.’’
The tourist family have caused controversy across New Zealand recently after they left rubbish at Auckland’s Takapuna Beach at the weekend.
The group were also labelled ‘‘rude’’ and ‘‘ready to fight’’ after they threw food on the ground at an Auckland hotel and cafe.
On Tuesday, they caught the attention of police in Hamilton, where they were also issued a deportation liability notice by Immigration NZ.
The family is known for its ‘‘anti-social behaviour’’ back in Britain, according to UK media. A woman who lived close to their traveller site near Lutterworth, Leicestershire, told The Sun her family had been plagued with trouble. ‘‘They copulate, defecate and urinate. It is never-ending.’’