Police have likened an incident in which a man was arrested after trying to hail a ride home in a police car as "a bit like dumb and dumber".

It was not, however, the 27-year-old man's attempts to get a ride from the police in Rangiora about 11pm on Friday that got him in trouble.

Police initially drove past the man as he whistled and hailed them for a ride, but stopped when he walked on to the road and started waving his middle finger at them, Senior Sergeant Malcolm Johnston said.

When the officers approached him they smelt cannabis and found him in possession of a small amount of the drug. They also discovered he was wanted for unpaid fines totaling $2800.

The man was taken into custody on a warrant to arrest.

"The moral of the story is that if you haven't paid your fines and you're walking around carrying drugs don't hail a police car like a taxi ... and don't give them the fingers," Johnston said.