A hard-hat wearing teen in a loader sparked a police pursuit in Christchurch's southwest Saturday night.

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A social media user posted on Facebook on Saturday night to inquire about a police chase he saw, involving a loader.

"LOL anyone else see the [loader] cruising down Yaldhurst road with like 10 cop cars chasing it?!?"

One passer-by, who wished to remain anonymous, said she saw a large orange loader travelling along Johns Rd at about 11.30pm. She and her boyfriend were able to follow it for some distance before it turned right on to Yaldhurst Rd.

She said she saw eight police cars pursue the loader, before it turned a sharp left into a residential area.

"We lost it for a while and then found it pulled up surrounded by police. People were running out of their houses to see what was going on."

The passer-by said she pulled over and walked up to the scene and saw a "very young looking guy aged 12-14 years-old sitting in the back of a police car.

"You could barely see him because he looked so small. He was wearing a hard hat while operating the [loader]."

"It was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time, yet we were a little nervous for police cars."

She said the digger was going about 25-30km when the police were able to surround it.

"The guy was too young for a licence for one. We didn't see him break any road rules apart from drive in the middle of the two lanes."

One witness said he saw it "ditched" off Apsley Dr, before it was towed away.

On Sunday, a spokesman for police's southern communications centre confirmed police were called to an incident on Saturday night where a loader was stolen.

"They followed the loader at low speed until the offender stopped the vehicle of his own accord and was spoken to by police."

The spokesman said he was unable to provide further information about the incident without speaking to staff who dealt with the incident.