Trench worker loses job after aiming laser at PM

Aiming a laser beam at Prime Minister John Key got a construction worker a few laughs - but he also lost his job.

The man was working on the $160 million railway trench in New Lynn, when he pointed the laser light at Mr Key on July 23.

The PM was visiting the site with Transport Minister Steven Joyce and happily accepted a T-shirt with a big red heart on it from another worker in the trench. But he was unaware a red beam was flickering over his safety vest. The Diplomatic Protection Squad was unaware of it happening but the laser light caught the attention of a safety inspector at the trench who told the man to stop.

A spokesman for Fletcher Construction, which is behind the railway trench, said the incident was "a prank by someone" who was playing around with it, but there was nothing sinister about it. He said it wasn't something that should have happened, a disciplinary process was started and "for various reasons" the man was no longer working for the company.