“One of our guys was chasing him. He jumped a red light and chased him up through Burger King but then lost him.”

A staff member appealed for sightings on Facebook of the stolen forklift.

“A man in a black hoodie stole our forklift which was being used by our store person,” they said.

“The individual drove it from Hetana St to New World, then to Burger King, and up Margan Avenue.”

One person commented: “Call the police because he’s putting the public at risk, I wouldn’t want to be in his way with that thing coming at ya.”

The vehicle was eventually found abandoned kilometres away on West Lynn Rd with the keys missing after staff spent hours scouring the suburb.

Singh said the theft was incredibly disruptive as it was the company’s only forklift and now required transporting back to the business and a new ignition installed.

“It’s a mess, believe me. I’m going to have to find new ways to prevent this from happening again.”

He had reported the incident to police.

A police spokesperson said they were contacted at 3.52pm about a theft from Hetana St in New Lynn.

“We understand the forklift has since been located by the complainant in the New Lynn area.”

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