Banned driver to pay $15K after crash

A disqualified driver who crashed into a fire engine has been ordered to pay more than $15,000 in reparation - a sum which will take him more than seven years to pay at $40 a week.

Jaydin Robert Locke, a 20-year-old roofer from Kerikeri, was sentenced in the Kaikohe District Court on Wednesday for driving while disqualified, failing to check for injuries at the scene of an accident and careless driving.

About 6pm on June 29, the Kerikeri Fire Brigade was called to a crash on the Heritage Bypass when, according to the police summary of facts, Locke failed to give way at the New World roundabout on Kerikeri Rd.

He drove into the path of a fire truck which had its lights flashing, the impact spinning his Mazda ute around.

Locke continued driving and headed back down Clark Rd, where he abandoned the car and fled into the bush.

The T-bone collision wrote off the ute and damaged the fire engine's cooling system, engine cowling, siren and bumper. A second appliance carried on to the original accident, while the damaged truck had to be taken to Whangarei for repairs and was off the road for a month. The repairs totalled $15,799.09.

Locke had been disqualified from driving the previous month and due to get his licence back in May 2012.

Lawyer Tony Shepherd said he expected his client would have to pay some reparation and do community work, but was shocked by the size of the bill. Locke was already $5000 out of pocket after his ute was written off, he said.

Mr Shepherd agreed, "reluctantly", to a payment plan for his client of $40 a week.

Judge Greg Davis gave Locke credit for pleading guilty, but said the point had to be made that he was a disqualified driver at the time.

"If you had not been driving the accident simply would not have occurred," he said.

The judge ordered him to pay $15,799.09 in reparation and surrender his vehicle to police. On the charges of failing to stop and driving while disqualified he was sentenced to 200 hours' community work.

He was disqualified from driving for a further six months from May 5 next year, when his current disqualification ends, and convicted and discharged on the careless driving charge.

Fire Service Muriwhenua area manager Allan Kerrisk was pleased the courts had dealt with the traffic offence and awarded appropriate reparation for the damage caused.

"Now we trust Mr Locke can move forward from here," he said.