Tyler Broughton was just trying to be enterprising but now just feels threatened.

A teenager who set up his own sober driver service on Facebook has ended the venture after receiving threats from an apparent group of vigilante parents.

Tyler Broughton, 17, started the "Coast Delivery" page in February, offering to give people lifts home or to fast food stores in Hibiscus Coast on Auckland's North Shore.

He said he was averaging about three or four rides each weekend, mostly to friends, who paid him "suggested donations".

Last week he received a text message threatening him with violence and telling him he was being followed.

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The threat was in an anonymous text from the "committee of combined comcered (sic) teen parents" that said "you are putting our teens lives in danger and risking them getting fined more than you".

It said: "we have been paying to get you and your team followed".

"The Police & NZTA are taking too long.

"If you continue after tonight didablement (sic) will start. The bag of cash will be delivered. They start with you first. Your car and your legs then one by one, you will never see it coming!"

An excerpt of the message sent to Tyler Broughton.

The message included details of Broughton's car, where he had been driving and warned him that if he was seen attending certain events, whether as a guest or as a sober driver, "action will be taken".

"We have eyes on the property," it said.

Broughton said he and his father both tried calling the number but it did not ring.

"It must have been like a spare SIM card, like a burner phone."

He had "no clue at all" who might be behind the threat but said he was concerned enough for his safety to stop the sober driver service and notify police.

Orewa Police inspector Mark Fergus said the matter was under investigation.

It was the second time this week that a sober driver service received threats after a taxi driver hit out at a Dunedin Facebook group.

One taxi driver wrote to the group saying: "notice to all illegal sober drivers, local taxi drivers have had enough and are going on the warpath… Your actions are affecting the incomes of legitimate operators. And a group of them are now painting targets on your back."

Under the Land Transport Act 1998 it was illegal to offer passenger or taxi services for hire or reward, unless the operator had the appropriate licence.

Broughton said when he launched the idea he was cautioned by people that he may be breaking the law.

"A few people said that, that I shouldn't be doing it, that it was illegal. But that didn't stop me."

The young entrepreneur said he was doing nothing wrong and was only taking optional payments that covered his petrol costs, "like the way your friend would offer to pay for that".

He would not comment on the average donation he received but said he had done a couple of trips to the city.

He said he came up with the idea as a way to prevent people drink driving, and said it was particularly necessary in outer suburbs, such as Hibiscus Coast, where there were only a handful of taxis that charged up to $120 for the roughly 40 minute journey into town.

While he did not have a special passenger licence or certification, he said if his service had grown in popularity he would have looked into it.

But for now he said the sober driver plan was finished.