Ellis asleep while ferry trashed

Marc Ellis says he was asleep and had nothing to do with drunken behaviour on a late-night Auckland ferry, which frightened passengers and damaged the vessel.

Alarmed Fullers' passengers and crew witnessed revellers, including some of the Southern Cricket Team, of which Ellis is a member, intimidating passengers including children, swearing, damaging the ferry and ignoring requests from crew to behave.

Crew reported they threw rubbish bins, let off two fire extinguishers into the engine room, drank alcohol they had brought on board, smoked, and broke a top-deck radar receiver. One stole biscuits from behind the bar.

But Ellis said he was asleep during the trip and the first he knew of the incident was when contacted by the media. "Whoever did the damage should pay for it, that's common courtesy, but I didn't see anything myself and certainly didn't do anything," he told the Herald on Sunday through a spokesman yesterday.

Fullers has sent an invoice for the damage to the Southern Cricket Team although the Herald on Sunday understands the group on the ferry were not all team members. They were attending a function on Waiheke last month with a "wear white" dress code. Some cricket team members wore their uniform.

The revellers returned on two sailings and crew reported trouble on both ferries. The later sailing, with Ellis aboard, was worse because the men had drunk more.

The Southern Cricket Club is part of the Auckland Business House Cricket Association, which is affiliated to Auckland Cricket. An association spokesman, who did not want to be named, said: "We don't condone behaviour like this."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY