An Auckland bakery owner was nearly run over in his dressing gown while chasing a thief who stole his company's van on Monday.
Dough Boys Bakery on Dominion Road has had a tough start to the year with several burglaries, the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.
Co-owner George Ring told AM on Thursday Monday's burglary was the final straw, and he decided to chase the alleged thieves in his dressing gown.
"I just got in bed, so I jumped up, chucked my robe on and then on one of the videos you can actually see me chasing after the guy in my dressing gown, but he did actually take a pass at me with the van," Ring said.
"I knew it was a dead-end road because obviously I live around there and got him cornered and he just turned around and drove at me."
Ring said he only decided to chase them because the business has already lost so much from previous burglaries and the weather.
Last weekend the bakery's cash register was stolen in broad daylight at one of their markets and the previous month the building was broken into and cash and goods were stolen
Last month, the bakery was broken into and robbed where cash and goods were stolen. Last weekend, at one of their markets their cash register was stolen in broad daylight and then on Monday, the bakery's van was stolen.
"I just wanted my van back, it's my van. Me and my brother Edward have had enough things taken from my business in the last couple of months to just lay down and take it," he said.
"So this time, I had an opportunity to do something about it. So I ran after him in my robe."
Ring said he's learned a lot of "tough lessons" this year but is still trying to stay positive.
"We don't want to keep focusing on the negative things that have happened to us because as you said, there are a lot of other businesses that are doing it really tough," he said
"So focusing more on the support that we're receiving from the community and the people that love us and our products is kind of what we really want to look at."
But for fans of the bakery, Ring had some good news saying they aren't going anywhere and will get through these tough times.
"We've got such an awesome team of staff at the bakery who rely on me to show up and do our job so they can keep doing their job," he told AM.
"We're not just going to leave them in the lurch because a few bad things have happened. They supported us through COVID. They've supported us through everything that's happened, so why would we kind of abandon them?"
Watch the full interview with George Ring in the video above.
