Not so much as a 'sorry'

A truck crashed into the fence outside Monte Pawa's house on the corner of Orchard Place and Pukepoto Rd in Kaitaia on October 17 (Disaster averted by the fence, Northland Age October 23).

Before that it had smashed into a parked car and would have hit Mr Pawa's house if the fence hadn't stopped it.

Last Thursday morning his fence on Orchard Place was flattened when a runaway car ploughed into it. It was towed away and the driver was charged with driving while forbidden.

In both cases Mr Pawa and his family were left with the job of cleaning up the mess, including broken glass, and repairing the fences. And that does not impress the family at all.

"No one has come to say they're sorry," his daughter Carlee said.

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"No one's come to help clean up, or fix the fences either."

While that rankled, her major concern was the safety of her children and others in the immediate vicinity, eight of whom wait on Pukepoto Rd every morning for their school bus.

"They have to stand there, or the bus won't pick them up," Ms Pawa said, "but they're not safe when they're playing on the front lawn. Either one of the vehicles could have hit them, or the house."

The car involved in last week's incident appeared to have been stopped by a tree stump, after it demolished a section of fence and snapped a yukka off just above ground level. If it had not stopped there it would inevitably have hit the house.

"Dad (who wasn't home last week) doesn't deserve this," Ms Pawa added.

"He's done a lot of good in this community and now he's even losing interest in gardening. The least the people who did this could do is tell him they're sorry and offer to help fix the damage."

The 40-year-old man accused of driving the vehicle involved in last week's incident claimed he had applied the handbrake when he parked it and that persons unknown used a post to lever it along Pukepoto Rd, into Orchard Place and into the fence.

Police suspect he had failed to apply the handbrake and it rolled down the hill under its own steam.

The driver of the truck on October 17 has been charged with refusing to provide blood for alcohol analysis, after a breath test recorded 1220 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, more than three times the legal limit.

According to police he opted for blood analysis after failing the breath test, as he was entitled to do, then refused to allow medical staff at Kaitaia Hospital to take a blood sample.