Domino's pizza will be pick-up only in one Rotorua suburb with the franchise suspending deliveries after a work vehicle was stolen.
It comes after a Domino's delivery vehicle was stolen while a worker was dropping off pizza to a house in Fordlands at the start of June.
"Domino's Koutu have recently ceased deliveries to the suburb of Fordlands at the request from local police, until further notice," a Domino's NZ spokesperson said in a statement.
"The safety and security of our team members is of the utmost importance to Domino's and each team member is equipped with safety training.
"Domino's Koutu is working closely with the local police on this matter and will resume deliveries to that area following police advice."
It is believed to be the first time the company has suspended deliveries to a whole suburb in New Zealand.
Delivering pizza can be a dangerous job, as people usually work alone.
In 2001, Bailey Junior Kurariki became New Zealand's youngest killer when he took part in the fatal stabbing of pizza delivery man Michael Choy in Papakura.
In 2014 in the US, at least 20 pizza delivery drivers were shot, Vice reports.
Vice listed a number of serious assaults on pizza delivery staff in recent years:
- a female Domino's driver in California was robbed at gunpoint and sexually assaulted
- a delivery driver in Maryland was mugged by four people with machetes
- a Domino's worker was fatally shot in New Orleans - the second Domino's driver killed there in six months
- a driver in Texas got beaten up. In 2013 thieves took the same driver's cellphone and shot him in the elbow as he tried to flee.
Newshub.
