Thieves who drove off without paying for petrol from a Whanganui service station were later caught after stealing petrol in Waiouru later that day.
Ray Stevens of Double S Motordrome said three offenders called into his Westmere service station at about 8.30am on Monday and put $40 of petrol in the car they were driving, a Nissan March.
"I got suspicious when a female passenger got out of the car. Like the bloke pouring the petrol she was wearing a hoodie but she also had a scarf hiding her face. That's when I switched the pump off," he said.
The trio drove off without paying. Mr Stevens rang 111 to report the theft and found out later in the day the same people had done something similar at Waiouru. It was soon after that second drive-off that the police caught them about 5km north of Waiouru on SH1.