Cruise ship passengers suspected of shoplifting from Lyttelton gift shop

A Lyttelton gift shop owner has never seen stock disappearing like it has started to do on days cruise ships dock - and she suspects the passengers are pocketing it. 

Maree Henry who runs Henry Trading Lyttelton said she was disappointed and shocked at the suspected thefts.

“It’s a little shop ... it’s not The Warehouse. You just get by working week to week," she said.

"I’m trading, buying and selling, so the theft makes a dent in that equation.

Specifically, she has noticed merino socks, silk scarves and jewellery stocks declining.

When the Westerdam ship docked on Thursday, Henry said some candles - which were normally in packs of two - were missing as the packs were only left with one.

Henry initially thought she was being paranoid, but thanks to a new inventory system, she started to notice the amount of stock she was counting did not quite add up at the end of the day.

She intended to have extra staff on whenever the cruise ships were docked, some of which were experienced in security at retail shops in the city.

Limiting the number of people in her shop was another thing she would implement.

Henry said she has rung the local police station to talk to them about how to manage and prevent the suspected thefts from happening.

Sixteen cruise ships have arrived in Lyttelton so far this season. The Noordam - which fits nearly 2000 passengers - docks next Thursday.

Henry’s suspicions come as cruise ship passengers cram public buses for the $2.10 fare to avoid paying $50 to get a shuttle into the city.

• No additional buses for Lyttelton until June

It has left many locals having to wait for multiple rotations of buses because they were too full.

On days when the larger ships dock, with about 4000 passengers onboard, London St was crowded.

“It’s the volume of people, it’s the overcrowding of the shop ... that’s when you’re busy at the counter and you can’t see someone on the other side of the shop,” Henry said.

Sergeant Anna Partridge said there were a lot of variables to deal with cruise ship passengers who were caught committing crimes on New Zealand soil.

Once they were on the ship, they were in international waters and would have completely different rights.

"If we charge them, that means they go to court, but they're not actually living in New Zealand, so how can we make them go to court?" Partridge said.

It depended on what they stole and if they could pay for it and return it in the same quality as they took it.

On the days they were working, Partridge said the Lyttelton officers made themselves visible to the community.

-Additional reporting Liz Grant