Queenstown bank ram raid: Man smashes into ATM in front of people buying McDonalds and drinking beer

A man has been arrested after being caught on camera ram-raiding a Queenstown bank as fast food customers and people drinking beer watch on.

A video by witnesses shows the man reversing a white hatchback into the BNZ Bank branch on Camp St at 11.46pm yesterday.

He can be seen in shorts with a red-and-black chequered blanket draped over his head as he casually steps out of the car to inspect the damage he caused to the bank’s storefront and its ATM.

People eating in the nearby pizza store look on, while customers from the McDonalds next door spill out onto the footpath to see what is going on.

The man then gets back in the car, drives a little way forward for a better run-up, and reverses full steam into the ATM with an audible bang as witnesses on Camp St can be heard exclaiming: “It’s a robbery” and “I can’t believe it”.

Witnesses video a man ram-raiding a BNZ Bank on Camp St in Queenstown in front of members of the public. Video / Supplied

As the man again steps out to inspect the damage, he is this time confronted by members of the public.

As up to six people gather around him, the man appears to talk with them and walks unhurriedly to the driver’s seat of the hatchback.

He gets in and eventually drives away as one angry member of the public kicks at the car when it takes off.

It leaves exactly as the first police officer can be seen jogging onto the scene.

It then takes off around the corner as five police officers arrive around the shop.

Police inspect the damage on the bank ram-raided in Queenstown. Photo / James Allan

Witness Matteocoletta said he was drinking a beer when he heard a big bang and saw a car in “the wrong place”.

“That’s not normal so I took a video and I saw this car coming back and smashing back onto the ATM three times.

“[I’ve] never seen something like that in my life here in Queenstown,” he said.

Video shows the storefront’s glass completely shattered around the ATM and support beams bent and mangled.

The ATM is also looking worse for wear but appears intact.

Police said a man was arrested in relation to the incident on Camp St at about 11.45pm yesterday.

A vehicle is believed to have reversed into the storefront several times, police said.

“It left the scene without anything being taken,” a police spokesman said.

He said police quickly located the vehicle and followed it at a distance along State Highway 6, heading south from Queenstown.

It was then spiked south of Kingston and stopped.

“The driver was taken into custody without incident and is facing charges in relation to the incident,” the spokesman said.