Lake Rotoma service station owner 'gutted' after early morning ram-raid

GAS Lake Rotoma was ram raided early Wednesday morning. Pictured: Store manager Harwinder Kaur. Photo / Andrew Warner

The owner of a service station at the centre of an early morning ram-raid was "gutted" when he saw the damage.

Today, police are appealing for information following the burglary at a service station in Rotoma yesterday.

And the owner of the stolen ute involved describes the ordeal as "stressful" and says he almost doesn't want his "badly damaged" vehicle back.

A police spokeswoman said police were alerted to a burglary at the GAS service station on State Highway 30, Lake Rotoma, at 5.30am on Wednesday.

A red Ford Courier Ute was used to ram the front entrance of the GAS station in Rotoma, she said.

"Once entry had been gained three people from the vehicle entered the store area taking cash and cigarettes. The vehicle then left travelling in the direction of Kawerau."

Owner Prem Gill told the Rotorua Daily Post the amount of damage done to the store was "frustrating" and "expensive".

"They damaged the roller door quite heavily and the door behind that. They took one whole till and the computer connected to it - the till was empty. They took maybe $1000 worth of cigarettes too.

"But it's more the damage than what they have taken. The broken tills and the doors, it will cost quite a bit. I'm gutted, it's just stupid.

"They know they can't get away with much, with the security cameras and alarms, but still they break-in."

Gill hoped police found the offenders.

"The cops were there and we had a look at the footage," he said.

Damage had been caused to the front of the service station. Photo / Andrew Warner

"They think the car was stolen from somewhere last night. We can see their faces in the footage and one of them left fingerprints."

Rotorua resident Jake Krebs was at work when a police officer came in to tell him they believed his red Ford ute had been involved in a ram-raid.

The ute had been stolen from his Lynmore property overnight and police told him it was then used in the raid.

He told the Rotorua Daily Post he had owned the ute since 2014 and his brother had been using it while he used a different car to get around.

He checked his phone to see multiple missed calls from his family saying a police officer had turned up their house to tell them the news.

He said it was "pretty weird" to think his ute had been used in a ram-raid and he had been worried that people were going to recognise his car and think it was him.

"I've made sure to let everyone know that it has been stolen."

He said his dad had recalled hearing a diesel ute zooming down the road about 4.30am but did not think much of it.

It was "stressful" to see footage of his ute in the CCTV of the ram-raid because it had "never had a scratch or dent on it" in the seven years he had it and it was recently cut and polished, he said.

"I'm almost hoping I don't get it back. It's obviously been badly damaged and would've been ruined. Sounds like the people were quite rough with it."

His brother had been left "at the short end of the stick" with no car, he said.

There have been no arrests.

Police are asking anyone who may have seen a red Ford Courier ute, registration APW847, before or after this incident to call 105.