Missing woman fond of hitching rides with truckies

A Hamilton woman missing since last Wednesday had a hobby of riding with truckies up and down the North Island.

Police have been searching for Francesca Martin since her abandoned Nissan Pulsar was found parked on the side of the road near Wairakei on Thursday.

The 42-year-old's family have said her disappearance is out of character and her bank account has not been touched since she disappeared.

Now police say Ms Martin had a hobby of riding in trucks up and down the North Island and are asking truckies to come forward with any information.

Taupo Detective Sergeant David Beattie said there had been a good response to calls for information about Ms Martin's disappearance, including a call from a truck driver which pinpointed the movements of her car on Wednesday last week.

A truck driver called police saying he saw the car turn left from State Highway 1 on to State Highway 5, heading towards Rotorua, and park about 30m from the intersection.

He said there were two people in the car at the time.

Police recreated the scene yesterday afternoon in the hope of jogging the memory of people who may have seen Ms Martin or her car, registration number XY8268.

Ms Martin is European about 1.63m tall of medium build, with brown and grey hair.

Anyone with information can call 0800 100-390.