Police in New Zealand have apologised to "persons of Irish descent," after wrongly identifying a man who was pulled over in his car as being Irish, based only on his accent.

The driver, Jonathan Waters, was stopped for having a kayak strapped sideways to the roof of the vehicle.

Police issued a statement headlined: "Police ask Irish tourist - What were you thinking?"

But it turns out Mr Waters isn't Irish at all, and is from New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland.

He claims the wind was to blame for rotating the kayak.