'Tickets genuine'. Disbelieving Bay family races to McCartney concert

Alison Morley (right) and her daughter Rhiann Baker made a spontaneous road trip to Auckland after realising Paul McCartney tickets they had won were not part of a scam. Photo/Supplied.

A Napier woman is thanking her lucky stars she won tickets to Sir Paul McCartney's Auckland concert at the weekend - and realised in the nick of time.

Alison Morley of Greenmeadows was in disbelief last week when three members of her family won pairs of tickets to the former Beatle's show through Facebook page Frontier Touring.

"We thought 'we're not that lucky' and there were a lot of people on Facebook who also thought they'd won; there was so many I thought it was a scam."

Unsuccessful in her attempts to contact Frontier Touring and Mt Smart Stadium to get to the bottom of the matter, she had disregarded the win as a scam by Friday.

"Then on Saturday morning I had a lie-in because I'd worked all week and rolled out of bed to find a reply from Mt Smart Stadium saying 'It's genuine, enjoy the show'."

At this point it was 11.30am and she hastily made the "now or never" decision to drive to Auckland for the show, she said.

"My daughter and I jumped into the car with just about what were standing up in and made it to the arena with 10 minutes to spare."

Ms Morley said the late notice meant some of the tickets her family had won didn't get used, but she and her daughter managed to find accommodation in the Auckland CBD and enjoyed the spontaneous road trip.

"It's a bit of a strange thing really because there were so many people that thought they'd won, then thought they hadn't won and probably couldn't get there because if they were any further away than us they probably wouldn't have made it.

"It's like winning the Lotto and not knowing what to do."

Sir Paul McCartney spent several days in the region last week after arriving at Hawke's Bay airport via private jet on Wednesday night.

Speculation about his whereabouts was rife on social media; some suggesting he was in Havelock North, Cape Kidnappers and Te Awanga.

He was understood to be in the region for a break ahead of Saturday night's concert at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, which wraps up his One on One Australia/New Zealand tour.

Ms Morley said the trip to Auckland to see the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was spontaneous and the show was brilliant.

"I like The Beatles and Paul McCartney but I wouldn't consider myself a huge fan. However, it brought back so many memories and it was such a good night. I'm absolutely thrilled that I made it.

"It was one of those rare minutes of spontaneity in my life and, as my daughter said, it was really spontaneous and nice coming up in the car and chatting. It was a great night, it really was."