Pensioner fuming after windscreen damaged

Kaikohe man Dave Cortesi is fuming after a week-old windscreen was chipped by stones thrown up from road works on State Highway 1. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A Kaikohe pensioner who replaced his car windscreen earlier this month may have to replace it again after he says it was irreparably damaged in roadworks just a week later.

Dave Cortesi was one of many Northlanders to complain of windscreen damage caused by stones thrown up from roadworks on State Highway 1 earlier this month.

Mr Cortesi, who runs a lawn mowing business, said he spent $360 getting a new windscreen for his Nissan Bluebird earlier this month.

A week later it was chipped in at least six places while he was driving between Moerewa and Whangarei as contractors were carrying out resealing work.

He tried to get the damage repaired but four chips were clustered so closely together the windscreen could not be fixed. He was not insured for windscreen damage and said many Northland pensioners could not afford the extra insurance. Nor did they want to lose their no-claims bonus.

Mr Cortesi said he had phoned the contractors, Fulton Hogan, but was told it was not the company's problem.

NZ Transport Agency acting Auckland and North highway manager Mieszko Iwaskow earlier said neither the agency nor its contractors was responsible for the behaviour of motorists who may have sped through work sites and caused damage to other vehicles. Speed restrictions were in place during the roadworks.

Mr Cortesi is one of dozens of people who have complained to the Northern Advocate over the past month of having their windscreens cracked and/or vehicles chipped by loose metal from roadworks.

Most of the damage reported to the Advocate occurred south of Whangarei on the afternoon of January 9 and many reported that the metal was flicked up by vehicles obeying the speed limits rather than speeding motorists.