The French couple whose van was attacked by motorbike riders at the Hukuwai Beach Freedom Campsite on October 14 have cancelled their New Zealand holiday and flown home.

The couple, aged in their early twenties, were asleep in their van when motorcyclists appeared at about 11pm. The group rode among campervans, spinning wheels and doing wheel stands. One of them smashed the rear window of the couple’s van.

Retired policeman Peter King knows the couple, who had intended to stay two-and-a-half months working in the kiwifruit industry.

“I encouraged them not to let the incident spoil their holiday, but though they understood most people at Ōpōtiki are really good, they just wanted to get the hell out of here. It was as simple as that,” the Ōpōtiki resident said.

“They had a really bad experience. Unfortunately, what happens is that they speak to other tourists, and it goes on social media. One fool has created much mayhem for the town.”

To Mr King it was exactly the kind of publicity the town did not need, but people he had spoken to had encouraged him to speak out.

“People are prepared to stand and be counted on this issue; they are letting me know they have had a gutsful of (unruly) dirt bike riders. We must nip this kind of behavior in the bud –Ōpōtiki has so much to offer.

People agreed with him that it would be a matter of time before we have a tragedy.

“It will be something on the spur of the moment.

“It’s just human nature. People do things on the spur of the moment because they have some kind of brain blip and regret it later.

“That’s what is going to happen. Then there will be all this hand wringing. People are going to say why the police do this or do that, but it all comes back to the parents. They know full well what's going on, but they just condone it. Most of the bikes pulled up by police had been stolen.”

Letters received by the Ōpōtiki News expressed the kind of anger Mr King was warning about.

A woman who supplied her name but asked to be anonymous, wrote:

“These dirt bike riders need to be stopped, also their dubious ‘parents’ need to face realities. They breed these kids, they don’t raise them. The police do their best, but their hands are tied by the ridiculous law that says that teenagers are too young to be punished.

“The traditional Māori way is to welcome guests from another country to ours.  

“My heart goes out to these young guests who were so terrorised. It is beyond unacceptable that they were treated so badly.”

A man named Dave said he emailed the mayor on the issue with no response.

He had spoken to the Department of Conservation but been told there was not much they could do.

He was concerned that the attack and other trouble centred on the Motu Trail, which was part of Nga Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail.

“We are talking about the damage to the Motu trail with those trail bike riders from town. But the worse ones are from Opape. They are on a black trail bike and a step-through. I don’t like gangs; they are there because they are too gutless to stand on their own.

“Maybe we need a Neighbourhood Watch Group with balaclavas to sort out the problem.”

The Police National Media Team were asked on Tuesday for an update on the investigation into the incident but had not responded as this went to press.