A Christchurch man has posted footage on social media of himself confronting a woman who was allegedly trying to sell his damaged car to a wrecking company.
Paul Höper posted the video on his YouTube channel on Monday after the incident took place on Friday morning.
He told Newshub he had been at an ITM building centre when he returned home to find an unknown woman and a man from a wrecking company pulled up beside his vehicle, which was extensively damaged after an alleged drunk driver crashed into it two weeks ago. The vehicle had been left parked on Keyes Rd ever since.
"I was just driving along and there was a tow truck on the side of the road with some people looking at my car and I was like, 'Hang on a minute, that seems a bit odd,'" he said. "I opened the door - and I'm like, 'What are you doing?' And she's like, 'I'm selling my car, it's not your problem, go away.'
"She tells me to piss off and that's when I pick up my phone and start recording."
The video shows Höper getting out of his car and crossing the road where his damaged vehicle was parked to approach the woman.
"Why are you taking my car?" he asks the woman.
"My friend asked me to get rid of it for her," she responds, asking Höper to stop filming.
"She's lying and saying that it's her car when it's not," Höper says.
Höper alleged the woman had also taken the number plates off the vehicle so the wrecker couldn't identify it as his.
"If I hadn't rocked up she would have sold it to the wrecker and it wouldn't have been there anymore," he told Newshub.
The video shows the woman chasing Höper down the road and attempting to hit him as he films.
"I poked the camera in her face and obviously she's not too keen on being videoed and tells me that she'll smash my camera," he said.
"The most brazen thing about it is she continuously insists that it's her car even though she definitely knows it's not her car and then - has the owner come up to it and saying it's his car - it's quite the comedy script.
"When somebody's there literally stealing your car in front of you, you get very grumpy."
The woman is eventually seen driving away in a blue ute.
Höper said he's reported the incident and shown the video to the police. A police spokeswoman confirmed this to Newshub and said enquiries were ongoing.
It was sad someone was resorting to stealing something for little value, Höper said.
"It's more the fact that if she's taking my shit, she's also probably taking other people's shit," said Höper. "It's good to raise awareness of that."
