Box for cancer children stolen

Police are seeking information after a donation box for cancer children was stolen from a gas station in Havelock North.

A donation box for the Child Cancer Foundation was stolen in a brash robbery at a Havelock North petrol station on Monday night.

The alleged thief concealed the box under a jersey he was carrying.

The manager of Mobil Havelock North, who didn't want to be named, said he and his staff were "understandably upset" about the theft.

"Quite honestly it's a bloody terrible thing," he said.

His daughter took to social media to try to track down the thief.

He was unsure of the amount of cash in the box and said staff had not experienced such a theft before.

Senior Sergeant Clint Adamson of the Eastern District Command Centre said such thefts happened throughout the year but at Christmas time there was a lot of pressure on people financially.

"These donation boxes are for a worthy cause, so to steal them and effectively take money off those in need of it is pretty poor form."