Warning to shoppers after carpark thief strikes

Shoppers have been warned to beware of thieves after an elderly woman's groceries were stolen from the Pak'n Save carpark last weekend.

Masterton resident Pam Sutherland and her partner had taken an elderly woman friend to the supermarket on Saturday to get her groceries.

The woman went out to the car about 11.30am with $20 worth of groceries to find the car was locked.

The elderly shopper had to get something else from the store and left her shopping bags - containing items such as fruit, yoghurt and a Lotto ticket - next to the car but within minutes they had been stolen.

"She went on out to my car and found it was locked and put her groceries on the ground," Mrs Sutherland said.

She said she had taken the woman to the supermarket as a "kind deed" as she was not very well.

They contacted supermarket security who checked video footage and found that a man had taken off down Michael St with the woman's shopping.

"It's a low-life thing to do," said Mrs Sutherland. "He took those groceries from a sick lady and I think he's scum."

Pak'n Save security manager Kevin Davis said the carpark is under camera surveillance, and invited Mrs Sutherland, her partner and the elderly woman to view the camera footage.

It was confirmed a man took the groceries but other features were not able to be determined.

"We couldn't get close enough to get any positive identification," Mr Davis said.

Mr Davis said this was the first incident of its kind and the store has a pretty good record.

He had some advice for shoppers: if they've left something behind and they've already got groceries bring them back into the store.

"People should be locking their cars too."