Fake family emergency, 'bad-name' cyclists keeping cops busy

A fake family emergency, a trail of muddy tyre tracks and cyclists "giving themselves a bad name" are among the issues southern police have dealt with recently.

Senior Sergeant Craig Dinnissen, of Dunedin, said an 18-year-old man was found driving three friends and his father back to Clinton via the Southern Motorway at 1.30am today after a visit to Dunedin.

The five occupants were from three different addresses.

The group stated they had come to Dunedin a few hours earlier for a family emergency with a close family member.

However, after being questioned about the nature of the emergency it was revealed they did not know the name of the family member.

They group had also been to a Night n’ Day store.

The 18-year-old had previously been spoken to about breaching lockdown and was issued an infringement.

The four passengers were given a warning, Snr Sgt Dinnissen said.

A car and motorcycle were seen ripping up the Montecillo Sports Ground at 1pm on Wednesday.

Police followed muddy tyre tracks back to an address on Glen Rd address and issued the owner of the car an infringement for a breach of lockdown and for the manner of driving.

The car was impounded and the city council would be contacted about the issue, he said.

Snr Sgt Dinnissen also stressed the need for exercise to be done locally.

People should not be driving long distances to cycle, he said. 

He brought up an example of cyclists traveling from Green Island to Bayfield and then riding 20 kilometres out to Portobello.

Although the rules were ‘‘a bit murky’’, the behaviour was unacceptable.

Road cyclists "aren’t liked by many road users" and those flouting the lockdown rules by riding to someone else's neighbourhood over 10km away were not sticking to the government's guidelines and gave those following the rules a bad name, he said.