Three children hurt in crash, no adults in vehicle

The Waikato Westpac Rescue Helicopter was called to the scene of the crash. Photo / Supplied

A child who crashed a stolen car down a bank in Waikato while speeding away from police should pay up, the vehicle's owner says.

Auckland man Harry Gosselman said it was "disturbing" that young children had been driving around in his Honda, which was stolen from outside his Green Bay house early on Wednesday morning.

The car crashed two days later, almost 90km from his home, injuring all three of its occupants - a 10-year-old boy and two 13-year-old girls.

A witness said the car could have been travelling as fast as 135km/h before it crashed just off State Highway 1 at Ohinewai, north of Huntly, about 3pm today.

The three occupants, who were taken to Waikato Hospital, had injuries ranging from moderate to minor.

The car's owner told NZME News Service he was about leave for work at 5am on Wednesday but discovered it wasn't where he usually parked it.

Mr Gosselman said it was "disturbing" young children were driving it today.

"Early on today I got a call from the police saying that the car had been sighted and was driving erratically and they wanted to make sure I wasn't the driver.

"Then I got the call back just after 5 o'clock about the incident."

The skid marks show where car slid sideways and through the fence. Photo / Belinda Feek

The car was worth about $2500 but Mr Gosselman only had third party insurance.

Seeing it on TV confirmed it was totalled.

It also contained power tools Mr Gosselman uses for one of his jobs, petanque equipment and a pair of reading glasses.

Items were strewn over the scene and police told him they were recovering what they could.

"I'm really annoyed," he said.

"It's become highly inconvenient to me."

A friend had since lent him a car.

"It's actually really disturbing that people like that are actually out at the time of night stealing cars. I'd like to try and meet them or get reparation."

Mr Gosselman wasn't sure if that would happen.

"Why would parents let their children out at the time of that night being that age?"

The vehicle, reportedly driven by one of the 13-year-old girls, was travelling in a westerly direction along Tahuna Rd when the driver appears to have clipped a roundabout at the intersection of Lumsden Rd.

It lost control, over-corrected and crashed through a fence before sliding down a 4m cliff bank, flipping and rolling onto a second fence.

Police said they had been alerted to "poor driving behaviour" in the Mangateparu area about 1.50pm.

The car being towed from the scene of the crash. Photo / Belinda Feek

"The vehicle was followed for a considerable distance by the member of the public who continued to provide good commentary around the driving behaviour and the direction the vehicle was travelling in until police were in a position to stop the vehicle," a police statement said.

"The vehicle failed to stop for a short time before failing to negotiate a part of the road and subsequently crashing and landing at the bottom of a bank near the intersection of Lumsden Rd and Tahuna Ohinewai Rds."

Police said the serious crash unit attended the scene and was now investigating.

A woman who lives down Lumsden Rd, about 1km away from the crash, said she looked outside and saw five police cars at the intersection.

"I was close enough to see all the cars and think what the Dickens is happening now?" she said.

The woman couldn't see the up-turned car but saw an ambulance, a helicopter and a fire truck at the scene.

She was later told it was believed the car could have been travelling as fast as 135km/h.

The crumpled Honda was towed from the scene about 6pm, and the road was reopened about 40 minutes later.

All that remains of the crash scene are skid marks where the driver had slammed on the brakes and tried to avoid going over the side, and debris and contents of the vehicle, which remain strewn at the bottom of the bank.