{"id":614116,"date":"2026-09-28T08:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614116\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T08:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T08:08:10","slug":"waitomo-says-vandalism-shut-down-mystery-creek-fuel-site-after-emergency-stop-was-pressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614116\/","title":{"rendered":"Waitomo says vandalism shut down Mystery Creek fuel site after emergency stop was pressed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A narrator tells viewers: \u201cScientists believe this dance is used to warn others that critical thinking has left the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe video shows a group of people arriving at a Waikato service station in the early hours of the morning trying to damage the site. Photo \/ Waitomo Group<\/p>\n

The commentary grows increasingly cutting as the group\u2019s actions unfold. One person tries to pull a petrol hose off the pump but fails.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, even the hose knows it has the intellectual advantage,\u201d the narrator says.<\/p>\n

The video ends with the line: \u201cCongratulations, you are this week\u2019s d***head of the week\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"OneOne of the people in the video seemingly smells a fuel hose. Photo \/ Waitomo Group<\/p>\n

Waitomo said the campaign was designed to draw attention to behaviour that creates costs and disruption for the company and its customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do what we can to keep prices as low as possible, but people just are d***s sometimes,\u201d a spokesperson told the Herald.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose guys rocked up about 1am and they just took it upon themselves to try and just cause carnage and destroy the site.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said vandalism and damage at the company\u2019s more than 100 unmanned fuel sites added to operating costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings like that ultimately just pull the price of fuel up because those are just overheads.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SecuritySecurity camera footage shows the driver of the black ute stalling the vehicle as they depart. Photo \/ Waitomo Group<\/p>\n

Waitomo said the series reflects its unconventional approach to marketing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t like to talk in a corporate way and we like to be quite left field from what everyone else does.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the company wanted to highlight people \u201ccausing a nuisance not only for Waitomo but for everyone else\u201d while creating content that resonates online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also used it for brand building because at the end of the day we know these videos resonate a lot on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the appeal, the company says, is the narration itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dialogue is half the reason people watch it as well because it\u2019s very Kiwi, it\u2019s very funny, it\u2019s blunt,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little bit roasting, kind of like what Police Ten 7 used to be like back in the day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A narrator tells viewers: \u201cScientists believe this dance is used to warn others that critical thinking has left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,1554,6726,9218,302453,138,34692,302451,6097,15974,76867,71,2678,209,305,13481,99307,700,8732,111,139,69,22126,102041,32257,312,1963,6753,1857,13655,1324,8220,26995,107200,112419,302450,6736,686,102,302452],"class_list":["post-614116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-alleged","tag-become","tag-before","tag-bowsers","tag-business","tag-creek","tag-dhead","tag-down","tag-emergency","tag-forcibly","tag-from","tag-fuel","tag-group","tag-have","tag-hoses","tag-intentionally","tag-latest","tag-mystery","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-petrol","tag-pressed","tag-pump","tag-says","tag-series","tag-shut","tag-site","tag-station","tag-stop","tag-targets","tag-vandalism","tag-vandals","tag-waitomo","tag-waitomos","tag-was","tag-week","tag-with","tag-wrenched"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}