"I don't want to go to jail, I don't want to go to jail," an 8-year-old Wellington boy who was in his pyjamas told a TVNZ reporter after he was seen having trouble driving a 4WD Range Rover.

The reporter thought he has just spotted a drunk driver around the streets in inner Wellington early Monday morning until he caught a good view of the kid's profile.

TVNZ reporter Lucas De Jong and cameraman Charlie Brittain were on their way to work at 5am when they saw a 4WD Range Rover moving really slowly while swerving on the road.

"[The car was] swerving, going really slowly ... and then when it pulled over and smashed into the side of this other car, that's when we decided to call the police - at that stage thinking it was a drunk driver," says De Jong, who was steering the wheel while Brittain called the police to alert them of what they thought was a DUI case.

"It wasn't until he started turning into the Novotel (Hotel carpark) that we got profile shot of driver... And there was this little boy in his pyjamas. It was a shock situation - it took us a few moments to work out what was going on," De Jong told the New Zealand Herald.

De Jong and Brittain blocked their car in front of the carpark so the kid would be able to remove his vehicle. But then the young boy panicked and was about to reverse, anyway, heading directly for De Jong and Brittain's car.

It was then that De Jong and ran over to the Range Rover to pull the keys out, causing the kid to feel even more tense.

"The first thing he said was, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just want to go home'. But I said, 'Look mate, you can't go home, why are you driving the car?'"

When the gentlemen told the kid that police were on their way to help them find his parents, De Jong said the young boy got very emotional and said, "I don't want to go to jail, I don't want to go to jail."

Wellington Police Inspector Paris Razos told the Herald the parents of the boy were very upset about the incident.

"The parents were unaware that he had left the house ... they were as surprised as anybody. The last thing they knew was that he was asleep in bed - they were shocked and horrified."