A Dunedin preteen's been arrested after a late-night joyride in a stolen bus

Police were flooded with reports from 9 last night.

Sergeant Anthony Bond says the 12-year-old boy boarded the bus in Brighton - and travelled down the Southern motorway and through Central Dunedin.

He says the boy hit four parked vehicles at speed and was swerving in and out of traffic - before stopping in Pine Hill.

Police found him soon after and referred him to Youth Aid.

Bond told the Otago Daily Times the bus's door was open - and it had a push-button start.