Police confirm escape route of alleged Upper Hutt robbers

Wellington police have released details of the route alleged offenders took, as they fled the scene of an armed robbery at an Upper Hutt store on Tuesday.

A 15-year-old will appear in Wellington Family Court next month in connection with the robbery, which saw three people, allegedly armed with an axe and a hammer, rip the till from Racecourse Dairy on Ararino Street at about 5.30pm.

Police were seeking information from the public, as they worked to locate three more people, who they said remained at large following the incident.

The dairy owner told RNZ she rushed from the shop to get the number plate of the car carrying the alleged offenders, as they left the scene.

On Friday, police confirmed that vehicle was dumped 10 minutes later in nearby Trentham Memorial Park, where the occupants switched to another stolen vehicle and headed north towards the Hutt Expressway (State Highway 2).

At about 6pm, police located the car travelling through the winding, secluded Moonshine Hill Road, heading towards Haywards Hill Road (SH58), which linked the Hutt Valley and Pāuatahanui/Whitby.

Officers pursued the vehicle, travelling southwards on State Highway 1, but the car lost control, and crashed on a stretch of the highway between Porirua and Tawa.

Earlier in the week, a police spokesperson urged anyone who had information concerning the robbery to get in touch.

"We would like to speak to anyone that was on Ararino Street or around the Trentham railway station around 5.30pm," a spokesperson said. "We're particularly interested if you saw a silver Mazda station wagon or any of the occupants."