Burglars target scrap metal yard

Burglars struck a Wairarapa scrap metal firm in the early hours of yesterday morning - taking old car batteries and a broken pit bike.

Wairarapa Scrap Metals owner Janice O'Brien and her husband heard "stuff being thrown" around about 4.30am.

Mr O'Brien went outside and confronted the man who jumped in a ute and "shot through," before Mrs O'Brien called police.

"Whatever he took was obviously already inside the vehicle," she said.

The burglar made off with a pit bike which didn't work.

"Possibly, they had been in and seen it and come back."

Mrs O'Brien believes some car batteries, worth between $6 and $12 each, were also taken.

An inspection of the property revealed the man had gained entry by cutting a hole through a fence.

The yard has security measures in place, but it was not the first time it had been burgled.

Although the burglary would not have a major financial impact on the business, Mrs O'Brien said it still affected her.

"It's not actually the scrap, it's the invasion of our privacy," she said.

"It was a locked yard. He shouldn't have been here."

Wairarapa police Senior Sergeant Carolyn Watson said police were seeking the man, who was driving a late model Holden ute.