A 12-year-old who stole a car was eventually stopped by road spikes after police followed him for more than an hour down a Northland highway.

Police in Whangarei said the boy stole the car from his caregivers shortly after midnight on Thursday, and headed south.

Officers spotted the car south of the city, and noticed that while he was not speeding, he was struggling to stay in the right lane.

They said they followed the car but did not stop it for fear of spooking the driver and putting other road users at risk.

When they signalled the driver to stop, he kept going, so road spikes were laid at Puhoi and the car eventually came to a halt.

The driver was taken into custody before being referred to Youth Aid and Oranga Tamariki.