Car thief strikes twice before breakfast

Police want to speak to this man about the theft of two cars on the North Shore early yesterday. Photo / Supplied

Police are hunting a particularly busy car thief who managed to commandeer two cars at separate service stations on the North Shore, then catch a taxi and disappear - all before 8am.

The man hung around inside the Mobil on Verran Rd in Birkdale for a few minutes, swinging a pair of black trackpants, before striking up a conversation with a woman on the forecourt, police believe with the intention of stealing her car.

However, he stopped talking to her suddenly, ran across the road and jumped into the passenger seat of another car, a silver 1996 Honda Civic saloon, which had just been parked by a 38-year-old woman who was about to catch a bus, just before 7am.

"He told her to drive but she jumped out of the car and tried to get her keys out of the ignition," Detective Sergeant James Watson of the North Shore police said.

"He fought them off her."

The car was driven to the Mobil on Wairau Rd, a distance of about 8km, and dumped outside the front doors.

The man then jumped into a black 1990 Nissan Skyline, which had the keys left in the ignition.

"The driver had gone inside for his morning coffee and someone's stolen his car," Sergeant Wilson said.

The car was found dumped outside netball courts on Northcote Rd.

Construction workers at the nearby Poenamo Hotel told police they had seen the man getting into a taxi.

Mr Watson said police had put an alert out to various taxi companies.

"The thing that concerns us the most is the time of the offending, you don't generally see criminals waking up that early. he was obviously trying to get somewhere really quickly, possibly to work."

The man is believed to be of Fijian-Indian descent, in his late 20s, had facial hair and was wearing a black-hooded jumper with a fawn-coloured jacket over the top and white trousers.

At the first petrol station the man had his hood over his head, at the second station it was down.

* Anyone with information is being urged to call the North Shore police on (09) 477 5000.