SPEEDING TICKET: James Williams was last seen by a police officer the night he was due to start work.

Police are anxious to trace 27-year-old James Williams, last seen in Bulls at 5.30pm on Thursday.

Williams was driving from Rotorua to Wellington to start work on the NIWA research vessel Tangaroa. He was supposed to arrive there around 7pm on Thursday.

Julie Hill, the mother of Williams' partner Jess, said they had organised a search from Bulls to Wellington on Saturday.

Supplied DESTINATION: James Williams was set to work on the Niwa vessel Tangaroa but has not turned up.

It was completely out of character for him to go missing and everyone who knew him was extremely worried, she said.

He had been working security on the Tangaroa when it was in port and enjoyed the job a lot. The couple were planning to move to Australia next weekend and had been living in Rotorua preparing for the move.

The last person to see him was a police officer who pulled him over for speeding outside Bulls at 5.29pm on Thursday.

He told the officer he was running late and was told to tell NIWA he would be late to start his shift. However, he had left his phone behind in Rotorua by mistake, Hill said.





Williams was driving a red Nissan March, registration GFU665.