Women thrown out of cinema for refusing snack search

Lizzy B's Cinema in Kaiapoi evicted four women, three of them grandmothers, who refused to allow staff to search their handbags for illicit snacks and drinks.

Grandmothers Gaye McKenzie, Doris Roddis and Jean Sheat, along with McKenzie's daughter, Vicky McKenzie, were seated in the cinema awaiting a screening of Second Hand Wedding last month when an usher asked to search their handbags.

They refused, and cinema manager Steve Brown asked them to leave and refunded their tickets.

Gaye McKenzie said she was dumbfounded by the incident.

"We were most upset about it. We could not believe it. I was annoyed about it and I still am," she said.

"It was done in such a dreadful manner, as if we were criminals. Your bag is your private domain. It is such an insult.

"I do not know any other theatres that do that. We were so dumbfounded."

Roddis was also outraged by being shown the door.

"It was a real intrusion. We thought it was really quite unpleasant. We went out for a lovely evening together and we never even saw the film," she said.

"We still haven't seen it. I think I might wait until it comes out on DVD. It made me feel really cross that someone could demand to look in your bag. You expect security at airports and things like that, but at the pictures when you are relaxing, you do not expect it.

"It is a terrible intrusion."

Brown said the cinema searched bags sporadically to control the consumption of alcohol as part of the requirement of its liquor licence.

"We are fully licensed, so it was quite a challenge to get those licences, and part of our requirement was to be able to control liquor in the cinema itself," he said.

"We do it sporadically because we have had issues recently and we want to make sure it does not increase."

The cinema's website has the terms and conditions for entering the cinema. One condition states: "As a condition of entry it is understood that cinema staff have the right to request that any bag or personal article be submitted for inspection."

Brown was unapologetic about the eviction.

"When you go to a cafe you do not bring your own food.

"We give people their own choice; they do not have to come here," he said.

"We are not a Hoyts or a Reading. We do not have the masses. We are a very upmarket boutique."

Hoyts Riccarton duty manager David Brouwer said bags were sometimes searched for video equipment to deter pirates, but "drinks and food are not something we are really concerned about".

Price of popcorn and cola:

Hoyts

Small cola and popcorn combo $9.50.

Choc Top icecream $3.80.

Reading

Small cola $3.40.

Small popcorn $4.50.

Choc Top $3.50.

Lizzy B's

Icecream $2.50.

Popcorn Do not sell popcorn.

- © Fairfax NZ News