A spike in the thefts of road signs and equipment from streets surrounding the university and stadium has Fulton Hogan staff seething.
Fulton Hogan is the Dunedin City Council contractor charged with traffic management plans for road closures around Otago Stadium associated with the Rugby World Cup games being played there.
Fulton Hogan traffic manager Reg Ozanne yesterday told the Otago Daily Times he blamed students for the surge in thefts, after he saw photographs of some scarfie flats with detour and rest-area signs.
Stolen traffic signs and equipment cost the company thousands of dollars, a bill which was passed on to the DCC and ratepayers, he said.
Road detour signs cost an average of $150 each, while traffic cones were $90 each.
"You add all of them up and that is a lot of money which is going missing on a regular basis."
A "huge amount" of extra road signs and equipment had been brought to Dunedin for Rugby World Cup traffic management, he said.
The theft of road signs, allegedly by students, was not a new problem in Dunedin, Mr Ozanne said.
"We have an amnesty for signs to be returned at the end of each year, but students steal them that often, it makes no difference," Mr Ozanne said.
University campus Constable Max Holt said there was no indication students were entirely to blame for any increase in the "phenomenal" amount of signs going missing, given there were also many visitors in Dunedin, Const Holt said.
He warned students they could be charged with theft if they were found to have taken road signs or equipment.
Students who had road signs could return them to the proctor's office or any police station, Const Holt said.
"It would be nice to get a lot of them back," he said.
The Otago University Students' Association was taking a proactive stance, a spokesman said.
"We encourage any students who have road signs or anything of that nature to get in touch with us so we can arrange the return of them to the owners".
The association did not condone any illegal behaviour, including the theft of property, he said.
