Four youths have been taken into custody after fleeing from police in a ute before being tracked down and having their vehicle spiked on SH1 in Auckland.

A police spokesperson said a vehicle, which was "of interest" to police, was first spotted in Parnell at about 12.10pm on Monday.

A witness in Parnell told the Herald he heard crashing as the ute barrelled through temporary construction fences to avoid spikes that police had laid down.

"They came tearing out of the car park, in order to avoid the spikes, they drove through a fence and up onto the footpath," the witness said.

The car then sped off.

In the commotion, Martin Spencer's car was damaged severely, leaving the rear-vision mirror smashed and the back door so ruined that it can not be opened.

"They drove up on the footpath and smashed through the fence and it was actually the fence that went flying up through the air that hit my car."

At first, Spencer said he was unsure of what was happening.

"I thought it was an accident so I slowed down, which of course annoyed them because they were trying to get away," he said.

Spencer said a police officer told him that the driver of the ute was just 13 years old.

"I guess the silver lining in all this is the fact that the police caught them so somewhere in Auckland there is a retailer breathing a sigh of relief that this is not one more ram raid."

A police spokesperson said the police tracked the car using the Eagle helicopter.

The ute travelled across the city and onto the Southern Motorway before being successfully spiked near Bairds Rd, Ōtara.

Four youths were taken into custody and have been referred to youth aid, the spokesperson said.