Thousands of swarming bees almost disrupted the holiday shopping activities at a shopping centre in Auckland if a caretaker had not stepped in to save the day.

The bee swarm flew into the carpark outside the Warehouse in the shopping center at about 1:30pm, the New Zealand Herald reported.

JB Hi Fi staff Vlad Petrovic said shoppers were forced to stay inside for about 25 minutes as the bees flew outside the store entrance.

When the bees flew onto the window of a red car, the shoppers were able to exit. However, the car's owner had to wait for about half an hour more, perhaps longer, if a building caretaker did not arrive.

The bee charmer, without any protective clothing, lured the bees from the car window into a cardboard box.

"I asked him how he did it without getting scared? He said 'I'm an animal lover'," Mr. Petrovic told the turn of events to NZ Herald.

Centre authorities subsequently called a member of the Auckland Beekeeping Club to take the swarm away.

"There were a huge amount of them [bees] - in the thousands. No-one got stung,'' said shopping centre custodian Les Thomas, who added no bees were hurt in the process.

Pest controller Mike Butler believes the bees settled on the car because the queen had stopped there for a breather.

"It looks quite menacing. They move around to find a permanent nesting home, and they surround the queen to protect her,'' he explained, adding that it was not unusual for a hive of bees to move in a swarm but it was unusual to see them land on a car.Thousands of swarming bees almost disrupted the holiday shopping activities at a shopping centre in Auckland if a caretaker had not stepped in to save the day.

The bee swarm flew into the carpark outside the Warehouse in the shopping center at about 1:30pm, the New Zealand Herald reported.

JB Hi Fi staff Vlad Petrovic said shoppers were forced to stay inside for about 25 minutes as the bees flew outside the store entrance.

When the bees flew onto the window of a red car, the shoppers were able to exit. However, the car's owner had to wait for about half an hour more, perhaps longer, if a building caretaker did not arrive.

The bee charmer, without any protective clothing, lured the bees from the car window into a cardboard box.

"I asked him how he did it without getting scared? He said 'I'm an animal lover'," Mr. Petrovic told the turn of events to NZ Herald.

Centre authorities subsequently called a member of the Auckland Beekeeping Club to take the swarm away.

"There were a huge amount of them [bees] - in the thousands. No-one got stung,'' said shopping centre custodian Les Thomas, who added no bees were hurt in the process.

Pest controller Mike Butler believes the bees settled on the car because the queen had stopped there for a breather.

"It looks quite menacing. They move around to find a permanent nesting home, and they surround the queen to protect her,'' he explained, adding that it was not unusual for a hive of bees to move in a swarm but it was unusual to see them land on a car.