Unruly tourists manage to get banned from every Burger King in New Zealand

Maybe it’s because they live at the end of the earth, or that they enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet, but New Zealanders are famously relaxed about basically everything. Unless you’re on a rugby pitch, you have to go pretty far out of your way to irritate an islander. This reputation for patience is partly what makes a story about a touring family of Brits who managed to piss off the entire nation all the more extraordinary.

Last month, during a two-week long reign of terror, the controversial Dorans from the East Midlands descended on New Zealand’s North Island, and set about causing mayhem wherever they went. The family left rubbish strewn all over an Auckland beauty spot, threatened to punch passers-by in the face and abused a litany of local women. They then proceeded to steal from a series of shops and left a hotel room “smelling of kid’s poo”, according to one report. Small wonder some people were losing patience.

Whilst it had already been revealed that the family had been served deportation notices by New Zealand officials in the aftermath of these incidents, it has now become clear that they managed to irritate not just the department of immigration, but also corporate fast food. Thanks to reporting from the New Zealand Herald, we now know that the family have also been banned indefinitely from all of the country’s 83 Burger Kings.

After a freedom of information request was issued by the newspaper, reporters were able to reveal that, on top of their other antisocial behaviour, the Doran’s were also implicated in a brazen fast food scam. Using their children as actors, Burger King allege that the family visited a number of restaurants during their time in the country, and took uneaten food from other families’ tables before taking them back to the counter and complaining that it was cold.

The Dorans didn’t stop there. A police briefing reveals that the group would “take a few bites from ordered food then wait half an hour before returning it, claiming it was cold”. The official information act report also alleged that they would spill their drinks over half eaten food, before demanding a new meal.

Officials have also revealed that “The family appeared to use the children as tools in assisting with this, and getting them to take old food from customers’ deserted tables, then trying to demand a refund with the cold food.” Whenever an attempt proved unsuccessful, Burger King claim that “When refused a refund/replacement food … the family would become aggressive … banging the counters in the arcade, as well as swearing at (staff).” As a result, the family have been issued trespass notices for every Burger King franchise in New Zealand.

In the end, the Burger King saga proved to be the final straw for local authorities. The day after attempting to scam another restaurant in Hamilton, the police were notified and deportation notices were issued. The family returned to the UK on January 28th. Unsurprisingly everyone involved has been trying to keep a low profile.