Tourist sisters pay twice when thieves take car

Two Canadian tourists are struggling to keep good memories of Rotorua after their car and all their possessions were stolen last weekend.

To add insult to injury, they then had to pay nearly $300 in towing and storage fees when their vehicle was found.

Anne-Marie Lowe and her sister Catherine are in Wellington for four months on a working holiday. They had accompanied their flatmate, Matt Oudshoorn, to Rotorua.

After visiting tourist attractions on Saturday, they went to Polynesian Spa for a two-hour soak.

Their car, containing all their possessions, was stolen about 7.40pm.

They reported the theft to police and agreed to pay a fee of up to $100 if the car was found and had to be towed.

Soon after arriving back in Wellington, there was a message from police saying the car had been found.

To save money, the sisters hitched a ride with a truck-driver in the middle of the night to Rotorua on Wednesday to get their car.

When they contacted the towing company they were told it would cost $287 to retrieve the car because of the extra days it had been in storage.

"We were robbed of everything," said Anne-Marie Lowe. "We don't have that money."

She said the sisters understood the towing company needed to be paid because it had a business to run.

But they felt they had been robbed twice.

- NZPA