Restaurant not taking any risks on couple

An Auckland couple road-tripping though the South Island say they were asked to leave a Dunedin restaurant over Covid-19 concerns.

The couple hadn’t been in Auckland, which is at alert level 2.5 after an outbreak in August, for more than two weeks. But the restaurant has hit back, claiming they were ‘‘unhelpful’’ over questions relating to coronavirus.

The incident happened at Biggie’s Pizza on Stuart St about 7pm on Thursday.

When the couple entered the restaurant, a duty manager asked questions, such as had they been overseas, to which they replied ‘‘no’’, and whether they had been to Auckland, to which they said ‘‘yes’’.

The Auckland-based couple, who did not want to be named, told staff that they were last in Auckland on September 1. They are on a South Island road trip.

They were asked to leave as the restaurant wasn’t ‘‘taking any risks and had to protect their customers’’, the woman said. ‘‘We were really angry, to be honest. It wasn’t their right to turn us away.’’

The fear of potentially spreading Covid-19 was ‘‘not a reason for us’’.

Tacey Millard, of Biggie’s Pizza, rejected the couple’s account.

She said her manager had discretion to make decisions concerning customers on a ‘‘case by case’’ basis.

‘‘It is important to us that she takes this seriously, and she does.

‘‘Because our staff are our family, and our customers are our family as well, and we want to keep everyone as safe as possible.’’

The couple may have been from Auckland, where there was still community transmission, but they were ‘‘unhelpful’’, Millard said.

‘‘We have to rely on honesty, and when you do come across someone that is a bit belligerent about it, are they telling you the truth?’’

The woman said the pair were healthy, had never had Covid-19, left Auckland over a fortnight ago and had never come into contact with anyone with coronavirus.

‘‘We just went somewhere else and had a really nice drink and dinner, so it was their loss really.’’

Hospitality New Zealand declined to comment on the matter as ‘‘this is a decision from a business owner’’.