Man complains to Human Rights Commission after being told he was 'too old' to enter bar

An 42-year-old man from Auckland in New Zealand is furious he was turned away from an inner-city bar because of his age. Garth Tomas says he was told the age limit was 38. He's laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission. Mr Tomas, who is a committed Christian, says he was turned away from Bar 101 for being too old. "The bouncer asked for my ID, I gave it to him, he looked at it for a little while and said, 'You are too old,'" says Mr Tomas.



"I was stunned. He said the age limit was 38." He'd gone to the bar by himself at about 1am on a Saturday night. It was his first time there. "I didn't know what to say. I've been to bars all around the world and I've never been denied because of basis of age." He tried to go to the bar again last week. Once again he couldn't get in, though this time because of a fire alarm. He's since written a complaint to the Human Rights Commission and contacted police and the liquor licensing authority.

"Whatever the reason it's completely unacceptable. It's a nasty little road they are heading down with that kind of discrimination." Mr Tomas says he was not drunk or abusive and the dismissal was based purely on age. "I hadn't been drinking at all, that night anyway, and I don't drink much anyway, and certainly not that night. I am not an abusive person." John Lawrenson owns the bar and says it's aimed at students.



"We are only being responsible and asking the question, 'What is a man in his 40s trying to do when he's asking to get into a bar full of 18-year-old girls at 2am?'" He says there's no age policy and there has never been one. "At this stage we are still doing an investigation, but based on the conversation I have had so far we doubt the veracity of the man's story. If the event it is true and a specific comment made to him being too old, we will apologise to him."

With news video.