Mitre 10 Apologies After Employee Said They'd Prepare Their Bull Bar For Cycling Protestors

The New Zealand arm of hardware empire Mitre 10 has issued an apology after a staff member's social media posts went against their policy.

The unnamed staffer was caught liking posts and reacting to public events in ways that threatened violence on cyclists and pedestrians.

They said they would be 'polishing my bull bars for' a cycling protest called Liberate the Lane and was meant to be held in Auckland over the weekend.

The post saw loads of anti-cyclist and violent comments, with one person saying: "Bring the truck around here when you're done ... and I'll wash any blood or evidence away for you."

Facebook

When another person asked if 'Mitre 10 sells tacks', the staff member responded with: "I get a discount."

The employee was also caught liking a post that said it was 'perfectly legal' to 'quickly mow down an aggressive cyclist or pedestrian', as long as they were 'on and off the footpath within 10 seconds'.

After the posts were discovered, the staff member was forced to apologise and remove any and all content that was problematic.

Mitre 10 New Zealand posted to Facebook about how sorry it was that its name was being brought into disrepute.

"It has come to our attention that one of our team members has recently expressed some views on their personal Facebook page, including reference to Mitre 10, about the cycling community," the company said.

"The person has since issued an apology and we have required them to remove all posts on this topic from their profile.

"We are disappointed that they have caused offence to the cycling community and we absolutely do not share their views. To be clear, Mitre 10 does not tolerate bullying, racism or any other discriminatory behaviour.

"Thank you to the members of the public and our team who have brought this to our attention. We take this situation very seriously and we are taking all steps to resolve this appropriately."

People weren't happy with the public apology and said the company was trying to stifle freedom of speech.

Topics: New Zealand, News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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