Koppens Road in Tamahere
A video has emerged online of a grey Mazda Axela being chased from Tamahere after an alleged tour-de-mail theft.
This vehicle was seen overnight Friday and Saturday – and chased.
Keegan Pronger told the Residents of Matangi and Tamahere Facebook page that he had caught mailbox thieves in action on Cherry Lane on Friday night and called police on 111 with the registration number of the car as he followed it out of the area.
“Have ripped into a few mail boxes,” he said. “Will return mail if any is still there. Dark grey Mazda Axela sped off into Hamilton.”
But Pronger was urged by another resident to take the discarded mail to police for forensic examination and mail theft victims to make their own reports to police.
“Police have advised there is massive under reporting of thefts in Matangi and Tamahere areas, 46 in 18 moths hence, so few resources sent our way,” a response to Pronger read. “The more police reports the better.”
Another post suggested thieves had also stolen the number plate, since a search showed it belonged to a Mitsubishi.
The driver of the same vehicle appears to have been caught on video helping themselves to mail from a mailbox on Twin Oaks Drive on Friday at 12.45am.
And another resident complained of mail theft on Narrows Lane on Thursday.
Last week’ thefts are the latest in a long line of mail thefts complained about online in the area, prompting resident and Agbiz Consultants director Peter Nation to complain to New Zealand Post in May.
Nation said there had been a problem since NZ Post had ended the contract of Danny and Ian Kennedy in November 2023, and the subsequent arrival of post at a predictable time.
“Hopefully people are reporting it so the police can deal to it,” Nation said of the latest social media posts. “Police will be onto it, I hope.”
The News asked New Zealand Post whether it will ask its contractor to deliver post at a predictable time.
“Theft after delivery is a police matter,” said NZ Post external communications lead Greta Parker. “Any customer who has experienced a theft should lodge this with the police, and I suggest you approach police for comment on this matter.”
A police media team spokesman said police were making enquiries after receiving about half a dozen complaints of mail theft in the Tamahere area on Friday.
“At this stage the reports are all being assessed for assignment – so enquiries are in the early stages,” the spokesman said.
Hamilton City Area Commander Inspector Andrea McBeth told a public meeting called ahead of Fieldays that the true scale of mail thefts were unknown as victims tended to post complaints online rather than report to police. Residents were advised to secure letterboxes with padlocks and get expensive items delivered to a post office.
Koppens Road in Tamahere where mailboxes were broken into and mail taken. Photo: Roy Pilott
