New Zealand: Shredded Paper Tobacco Pouch A ''One-off''

Source from:  Timaru Herald 01/20/2015

An Auckland man who found his newly-purchased Park Drive tobacco replaced with shredded paper has been told the incident was a one-off by the tobacco company.

After a long drive to Mangawhai on Friday night Auckland man Mark Coakley was disappointed to find the Park Drive 30g he'd purchased at a Z petrol station was instead filled with shredded Warehouse catalogues.

"It's pretty hard case," Coakley said.

"It felt to me exactly the same so I didn't take much notice of it really. I brought it because I was going away for the weekend and lo and behold it was full of the Warehouse clippings.

"It was a bit disappointing, especially when you pay nearly $45 for tobacco now."

It appeared the cellophane wrapping on the pouch had been re-glued together but apart from that there were no clues anything was untoward, he said.

Coakley was given a replacement today from Z Quay St and manager Jagvir Atwal said no other customers had made similar complaints and that it was unlikely that a staff member had tampered with the pouch.

British American Tobacco New Zealand's head of corporate and regulatory affairs Lachlan Beaton said he believed it was an isolated incident.

"I understand the matter has been resolved between the retailer and the consumer," he said.

"We don't believe that this was a manufacturing or supply chain issue and apologise for any inconvenience that this consumer may have experienced."

It comes nearly two years after police launched an investigation after a string of Port Royal tobacco pouches sold at various stores including Countdown and Z were found to contain bread.

In May 2013 three West Auckland residents reported their beloved tobacco was substituted for Molenberg and after an investigation by BATNZ the matter was referred to police.

It said an individual not associated with the company had been visiting various stores and tampering with the products. Enditem