Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Mitre 10 employee praised for trespassing anti-masker shopper

A Mitre 10 employee is being praised for trespassing an anti-masker who tried to enter the store after already being banned.

The video, posted to social media, shows the maskless man entering the Mitre 10 Helensville store. A staff member can be heard asking him to put a mask on, and he replied "no" before walking past.

"See, that's how you do it and then you don't sign in," the maskless man tells the camera confidently, referring to the Covid-19 tracer app signs which make contact tracing cases significantly easier.

"And now I'm going to walk through here with my camera this time," he continues before being interrupted by a member of staff.

"Hey can you put a mask on?" the worker asks as he approaches the man.

The worker appears to grab the man by the shirt before asking him repeatedly to put a mask on.

A scuffle ensues as the man claims the worker is violating his human rights by not allowing him into the hardware store, before he is ejected outside.

"We're not discriminating against you mate we're asking you to put a mask on."

"Who are you?" the maskless man answers.

"Kyle," says the worker.

Another guard joins Kyle, telling the man he's not allowed in and has already been banned for two years for a prior incident.

The video has been shared widely on social media with many people praising Kyle's actions and offering to buy him a beer for the way he handled the situation.

"Fully support [Mitre 10] and its staff removing violent health and safety risk from store," said one person.

"it's so frustrating and disappointing that you, and others, have to deal with these angry, ill-informed / under-educated troublemakers. You handled the situation swiftly, firmly and fairly. Bravo!"

Masks are mandatory at all Mitre 10 stores across Aotearoa, and as the store is private property they can legally trespass people. Anyone who remains in the store after being trespassed is committing a criminal offence.

A Mitre 10 spokesperson said the store owner and operator is investigating the incident and additional security has been placed on-site.

While staff encounter "repeated aggressive behaviour" from a customer, a spokesperson said it needs to be handled with respect and sensitively.

"We acknowledge that this disagreement was not well-managed and we are taking appropriate steps to help ensure improved handling of these types of situations in the future."

A police spokesperson confirmed they received a report of a man being verbally abusive towards staff and refusing to wear a face-covering at a Helensville business.

"As a result, a 35-year-old man was subsequently given a warning in relation to refusing to wear a face-covering as required under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act."

The man was also issued a trespass notice.