Thee masked men storm Wellington dairy with axes, hammer to steal till, owner says

"Never experienced anything like that before and I hope to not ever again."

Those are the words of dairy owner, Sonia, after three masked men allegedly stormed into her Wellington dairy with axes and a hammer and made off with the till.

Sonia and her husband Charlie have been running Racecourse Dairy on Ararino Street in Upper Hutt for nine years.

Police deployed spikes on State Highway One on Tuesday afternoon to catch the men who crashed in an allegedly stolen car.

The state highway was closed for three and a half hours.

Police arrested one person.

Sonia told RNZ the incident at around 5.30pm was over in a matter of minutes.

"It happened very quickly."

She said her first thought was that her customer was being attacked.

"And then I realised, oh no, they're here for us."

She said her husband pulled her out of the way, as a man jumped onto the counter and the trio grabbed the till.

"Didn't look like they wanted to take the cigarettes or anything, so just money. But there wasn't much in the till, so only got pocket change really."

After they left the shop, Sonia said she ran out to read the number plate of the car, repeating it to herself so she wouldn't forget it.

She said she called police who arrived quickly and gave her a play-by-play of the pursuit.

Sonia said she'd prepared for thieves over the years: she frequently emptied the till and kept a dog on the premises for security.

"I didn't even really go into shock or anything or realise what was, you know, kind of happening straight away."

She said she hoped that was the first and last incident at the shop.