Truck joyride in city ends with mall crash
A man is accused of taking a freight truck from a yard before driving it around Christchurch, ending with a crash at a suburban mall.
Gareth Stephen Edwards, 44, was held in custody overnight to appear in the Christchurch District Court on Monday on four charges relating to the Sunday night event.
The truck damaged several traffic islands and signs before hitting a glass awning at Barrington Shopping Centre.
Edwards has been charged with reckless driving, failing to stop, failure to comply with an order forbidding him to drive, and breaking into the Mainstream lot in Jipcho Rd, Wigram.
Shopping Centre retail manager Jill Kearns said most of the damage was cleaned up before stores opened for one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
‘‘It’s all done and dusted and we are trading as normal,’’ she said.
The crash damaged the areas surrounding the Super Liquor and Pita Pit, and the verandah of the nearby Wilson’s Pharmacy.
Police earlier said the $600,000 Mainstream truck-and-trailer unit had been reported stolen.
Mainstream general manager Paul Trotman said Edwards was not known to the company.
He did not know how the truck was taken from the secure yard at Mainstream’s Christchurch depot.
Police said they found the suspected driver outside the Super Liquor at the mall about 10pm. He allegedly ran off towards the nearby Z petrol station, but was arrested.