Auto workshop guilty of causing freak accident

The truck missing two wheels on the Southern Motorway at Otahuhu. Photo / NZPA

An automotive workshop has admitted causing a freak road accident where a truck wheel came loose and killed a bus passenger on Auckland's Southern Motorway this year.

Counties Automotive Diesel Repair Limited pleaded guilty to one charge laid by the Department of Labour at Pukekohe District Court today.

The company is charged with failing to take all practical steps to ensure that the actions or inactions of an employee did not harm another person.

Sentencing will take place on November 29.

Another company, Maximum Transport Limited, pleaded not guilty to the same charge and will be back in Pukekohe District Court on November 23 for a status hearing.

Vietnamese man Lam Xuan Hu, 24, died after he was hit by the 80kg truck wheel when it slammed through the front window of a bus in January.

He was sitting in the front seat to avoid motion sickness. The bus was travelling north when the wheel came off the southbound truck, bounced the motorway median barrier and struck him in the head.

He died the next day when his life support system was turned off at Middlemore Hospital.

Police said at the time they would not be prosecuting the driver or operator of the truck and the case was referred to the Department of Labour.

It was understood police initially considered a manslaughter charge but decided against that after legal advice.

- NZPA