Man goes on drunken rampage in hospital carpark

Taupiri nurse Karen Coleman's car was vandalised, along with dozens of others. Photo / Supplied

A man has gone an anger-fuelled drunken rampage outside Waikato Hospital, kicking and damaging at least nine staff cars, a hearse and two parking barrier arms after he was refused entry to a central city bar.

He was eventually caught by hospital security staff when security camera showed him trying to break down the locked automatic double doors of the main hospital building, the nine-level Menzies Building, at 10pm on Saturday night.

At least three security guards quickly caught the man they described as being drunk and angry. Police arrived shortly after and arrested him. It is understood the man decided to take his anger out on hospital property after he was refused entry to a central-city bar on St Patrick's night.

The full extent of the damage was still being uncovered yesterday as night shift staff returned to their vehicles to find their car windows had been smashed, wing mirrors kicked in and windscreen wipers snapped off.

The damaged cars were parked in the staff carpark by the Menzies Building and at the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre. Cars belonging to staff and the public parked on Selwyn St were also hit.

The two parking barrier arms that give access to staff carparks near the Menzies Building were damaged, one so badly that the barrier arm had been removed from the rest of the unit.

A wing mirror was removed from the hospital hearse and a duty manager arrived to her car to find her wing mirror had been ripped off and the side of her car kicked in.

One staff member's car had been so badly damaged he could not drive it and he had to arrange another way of getting home.

Waikato Hospital spokeswoman Mary Anne Gill said the extent of the damage was unknown and the hospital was asking staff to let it know if any of their vehicles had been vandalised. She said some staff members may not have seen the damage immediately because it was dark.

"We know of nine but there may well be others."

She said most of the vehicles damaged belonged to night shift staff.

"It's really upsetting for staff working, they have a degree of faith their vehicles are parked where they were safe," Ms Gill said.

Nurse Karen Coleman, who was working in the Menzies Building on Saturday night, said she was "gutted" when she woke up yesterday morning and saw there were big gouges on the passenger side of her newly purchased car, and the the tail light and one wing mirror were broken.

She said it was so dark when she returned to her car at midnight that she had not realised the damage until the morning. The damage was a huge inconvenience as her son had been due to sit his driver's licence in the car this week and she relied on it to get her from Taupiri to the hospital each day.

The Lawrenson Group chief executive John Lawrenson, whose bars include Shenanigans, The Bank and Furnace, said his bars started refusing entry to intoxicated people from about 7pm on Saturday night.

The problem was worsened by the cricket test at Seddon Park and St Patrick's Day celebrations, and rejections started about five hours earlier than usual.