Tagging on the rise in Wellington as graffiti artists flout lockdown rules

Tagging appears to be on the rise in Wellington's CBD as graffiti artists flout the lockdown rules.

The city council is expecting a big cleanup job, and one affected business owner is pleading with taggers to stop.

Security footage captured a hooded figure walking past Joseph Sutherland's central Wellington workshop, showing the person pulling something from their bag and appearing to spend 30 seconds tagging. The next morning, Sutherland found fresh graffiti on his garage door.

"I'll potentially have to paint this door. I mean, I've already invested $2000 or $3000 in the cameras," the Sutherland Performance owner says.

"Just gutting and annoyed, especially in this time that we're in - everyone else is doing their part and then you've got people like this."

The Wellington City Council (WCC) has also noticed an increase in tagging during the lockdown.

"We have anecdotal evidence it is increasing in CBD," WCC chief resilience officer Mike Mendonça says.

The council usually spends hundreds of thousands of dollars each year removing graffiti, and it's expecting a big cleanup job once the lockdown is over.

"Realistically we expect a bit more, [and we] expect our crews to be busy when we move from level 4 back to level 3."

Auckland spends $4 million a year cleaning up graffiti. It hasn't noticed an increase so far, but like Wellington, its clean up crew is on standby in case anything offensive pops up.

"That could be signs and symbols of a nature which people would find quite offensive, could be things like gang insignia and racist comments," Auckland Council service and integration manager Duncan McLaggan says.

Following advice from authorities, Sutherland reported his incident, and he also has a message for those responsible.

"What's the point? It's people's property, it's costing everyone money."

A cost that could increase if more property is tainted by unwanted graffiti.