Unruly tourists spotted in Wellington by eagle-eyed locals

The unpopular tourist group making their way through the country appear to have arrived in the capital city.

Members of a group of British tourists dominating this week's headlines for their unruly behaviour in Auckland and Hamilton have been spotted in Wellington, according to a flurry of social media posts.

Facebook user Bart Blithe posted photos on Facebook, saying he had seen some of the tourists in the Z petrol station in Tawa, one of Wellington's outer suburbs.

Blithe put up photos of a man in a red T-shirt and yellow shorts walking through the petrol station, though the photos are only taken from behind.

"I've warned the staff at Z who they are," he wrote.

"They're just getting a cellphone charged apparently."

Blithe said he followed them around the petrol station before the group left, heading south on the motorway.

"I had warned staff before they got the fuel nozzle in the car."

He said the people had a smoke and bought a coke while there.

An employee at Z said he was not sure whether the tourists had visited, as they had many customers.

The tourists accused of bad behaviour leaving their Hamilton Accommodation on Tuesday morning. Photo / Christine Cornege

Comments on the page and on the popular Vic Deals page are asking where the group are now, with one woman saying they had been spotted in Newlands.

The sighting comes shortly after a Levin motel owner confirmed a carload of the group spent the night at his motel.

The owner, who asked not to be named, confirmed his overnight guests were at least part of the group. The confirmed sighting has prompted the mayor of Levin to issue a warning to residents and businesses.

The Levin motelier said members of the group had arrived on Wednesday night - and true to form tried three times to talk him down in price.

They checked in for five people, but he believed more may have stayed.

"They just kept getting out of the car," he said.

However, he said they had behaved themselves and been "pretty quiet".

Social media users are encouraging others to keep an eye out for the group, with one man saying he was driving around Wellington and would be looking out for their car.

Another person encouraged him to live stream them if he came across them.

Making headlines around the world

The travellers have made headlines around the world since a video emerged of rubbish being strewn on a Takapuna Beach reserve. Bystanders asked the group to tidy the mess but were abused and threatened.

It has since emerged the group arrived in New Zealand on December 29. There have been several accounts of members refusing to pay for food or services, hectoring hospitality staff and claiming their food had been contaminated by ants or hair.

On Wednesday, a 26-year-old female member of the group pleaded guilty in the Hamilton District Court to stealing energy drinks, a rope and sunglasses from an Auckland service station on two separate occasions.

The court heard Tina Maria Cash stole a can of Red Bull from a Caltex service station at Albany on December 31.

At the same time another woman she was with hid a bottle of Primo milk under her dressing gown while paying for a packet of cigarettes.

Cash allegedly waited at the door until the service station assistant was distracted serving the other woman and left with the can of Red Bull.

The other woman allegedly did not pay for the Primo.

On January 3, Cash allegedly returned to the Caltex with her children and stole more Red Bull, rope and sunglasses valued at $50.

Her lawyer told the court she does not remember the incident, but accepts the theft was caught on CCTV video.

She has been convicted and ordered to pay $55 in reparation.

Outside the court, members of the group shouted at media and the public, some of whom also shouted at the tourists.

As the group walked away, a young boy raised his middle finger at the onlookers. - Additional reporting by Lincoln Tan and Sadie Beckman.