Stolen Stagecoaches ride Waikato trail

Police are investigating reports that someone has been stealing Stagecoach coaches and starting his own bus service to Waikato.

Stagecoach marketing manager, Steve Wade, yesterday confirmed to the Herald that at least two buses had been stolen from the company's Roskill depot in "the past week or so".

Stagecoach discovered the first bus missing after a caller from Ngaruawahia rang to say one was parked outside.

The company used a global positioning system device (the devices are installed in all Stagecoach vehicle), to find the exact location of the bus.

It is understood the coach had been missing overnight.

Bus managers learned another coach had been taken when they were contacted by a Hamilton company wondering whether Stagecoach was running a service to Hamilton, where a company coach had been spotted.

Stagecoach staff confirmed they were not branching out to Waikato, then went to collect their vehicle.

Mr Wade could not confirm if a person believed to have been filmed filling the bus with diesel at a Hamilton service station was the thief.

"That could have been our own people when we drove the vehicle back."

The "average" Stagecoach bus had a range of 400 to 500km on a full tank, he said.

One source told the Herald the Ngaruawahia bus was found with its interior covered in wood chips and mud.

Mr Wade said the bus was muddy when recovered, but both vehicles were undamaged.

However, he could not confirm that a third coach, from the central city depot, had been stolen and was still missing.

He said all matters had been reported to police, who believed the thefts were the work of one person.

The thefts prompted a tightening of security around Stagecoach yards, but the sheer number of buses meant staff would not necessarily realise when one had been stolen.

"It is not as though we can look out our window and say, 'I should have 50 buses'."

The thefts were likely carried out by an opportunist, he said.

Kelly Coll, of the Auckland police car squad, confirmed investigators had a suspect for the first theft. Inquiries were continuing.