Company shrugs off driving concerns
An Auckland man who says he saw a campervan cross the centre line more than 20 times on the highway over Takaka Hill is shocked by the campervan rental company’s dismissal of his concerns.
Nick Seed was driving on State Highway 60 over the hill last weekend, heading to Picton on his way home after a holiday in Pohara, Golden Bay. ‘‘There was a van in front of me that was basically cutting every single corner,’’ he said. At times, the vehicle was almost completely on the other side of the road.
‘‘There were times when people were coming, so [the driver] quickly pulled back in, so he obviously knew what he was doing.
‘‘If there were cyclists coming, that didn’t worry him – he just went barrelling down the wrong side of the road with the cyclists there.’’
Seed didn’t have cellphone reception to call *555 to report the dangerous driving, so he took several photographs and emailed them to the rental company, Travellers Autobarn.
He said he was ‘‘blown away’’ by the response he received.
‘‘I am more concerned about you taken pictures with you mobile phone whilst driving as this is illegal. My customer is only touching the middle line whilst going around corners,’’ the reply read. ‘‘I am not concerned but thank you for letting us know.’’
Seed thought he might get a generic response saying thank you and the company would contact the driver. ‘‘To come back and say he was barely over the line and they weren’t concerned about it – wow. You are a rental agency – you are supposed to be promoting safety to people when they rent the vehicles.’’
Travellers Autobarn general manager Rob Allen said he was aware of the incident, and that the response from the customer care team was ‘‘less than ideal’’. He said the customer had been contacted following the incident and advised to take more care when driving.
The official road toll for 2018 was 380.