Bus crashdebris left at house for days
Just behind the for sale sign on Brendan Elks’ Naenae home lie the remnants of a bus crash.
Trees, including a pohutukawa and kowhai, are scattered over the front yard, as are fence pailings, road signs, and debris that fell off the Metlink bus the day it ploughed across the centre line before coming to rest a little more than a metre from the Elks’ lounge.
The crash happened on Monday last week, and while the bus was removed in good time, the mess it left behind remains.
The operator of the bus, Tranzit, had promised to clean the place up quick smart, given the house is on the market and under offer. Elks was told not to call his insurance.
But more than a week on, nothing has happened. Now Elks has been told to call in his insurer.
‘‘I was impressed when the general manager came around and was like, I’m sorry about this, we’ll get all cleaned up as soon as possible,’’ Elks said.
But no cleanup crew arrived, despite several calls and emails from Elks to Tranzit.
The most recent promise was that someone would remove the debris on Saturday, but again, nobody arrived.
Elks said Tranzit changed its tune on Friday, telling him to call his insurer and the issue would be sorted that way.
‘‘By Friday we were like, ‘man, we’ve got to get this sorted’. The house is on the market, we had to cancel the open home on Sunday.
‘‘We just want it clean so that we can at least have people through and say, look, we’ve had an accident here, it’s covered by insurance and will be fixed, you know? But nothing’s happened.’’
Tranzit’s transport and operations director, Keven Snelgrove, said there was ‘‘an initial miscommunication’’ with Elks around the cleanup work.
‘‘Our manager made contact with the property owner [the afternoon of the crash] to apologise for the damage caused and to explain the process we need to follow to rectify this,’’ Snelgrove said.
‘‘We appreciate this is a frustrating time for them, but our insurance companies are working together to ensure a swift resolution for them.’’
Elks said he’s annoyed at the so-called miscommunication, and that Tranzit won’t quickly fix their mess.
‘‘We’re now calling in someone to clean it up ourselves, but it’s quite difficult at the moment. We’ll need a builder for the fence, but they’re all booked out well in advance. It’s been a stressful week. It’s not been a good week in our house.’’
Elks said he has sought a formal apology, compensation, and an explanation of how the crash happened, but none have been forthcoming.
Snelgrove said an apology had been given, and that he wouldn’t comment on the cause of the crash because an investigation was underway.