Video shows motorist playing cat and mouse with police

A sly driver being followed by police briefly got the upper hand by circling a building then speeding away in a bid to shake off the patrol car.

Footage from a security camera in Turua, just outside Thames, showed a vehicle driving down Hauraki Rd about 8am today before sneaking behind the Turua Memorial Hall as a police patrol car followed behind.

The driver circles the building, then emerges from the other side and accelerates down Hauraki Rd, followed 12 seconds later by the patrol car.

Dion, who caught the action on a security camera outside his business, said he would have tried to block the getaway driver in if he'd had time.

"The van I had sitting outside wasn't my car," said Dion. "If it was my car I would have blocked him in."

He said he knew what the driver was planning when he saw the vehicle approach the hall.

"I knew straight away, the moment he spun around and I saw the cop go for him, that he was going to come out the other side."

Dion can be seen pointing the officer in the right direction near the end of the video.

"I ran out and pointed to the cop and said, 'Hang a left'! "Then the cop hooned it down the road."

Police denied that the incident was a pursuit, saying in a statement it was a routine traffic event, where the officer signalled the vehicle to pull over.

"There was no fleeing driver incident," the statement said.

Dion, who owns a cabinet making business on Hauraki Rd where the security camera filmed the footage, said an acquaintance had seen a police pursuit minutes later on Bush Rd, about 5km away.

"It all happened so fast," said Dion. "I thought, 'Here we go. Another idiot on the run'."