Couple in 'awful' road attack

An elderly couple endured a nightmare chase in the Bay of Plenty when a driver allegedly tried to ram them off the road and blow out their tyres with a shotgun.

The pair got away but the man continued his rampage, allegedly tailgating a woman driver before threatening her with an axe.

The elderly Opotiki couple were on their way to a Rotorua weekend market with a utility loaded with vegetables early on Saturday when their horrifying experience began.

A woman, who did not want to be named, said a man driving a red ute tried to ram them from a side road at Lake Rotoma about 4am.

"We think we were a random target for him. He was ready to ram into somebody, his lights were off ... he came up behind us many, many times," she said.

The man continued to ram their ute as her husband stuck to the 70km/h speed limit. He then pulled out a shotgun and twice peppered their vehicle with shots.

"He came alongside us and was reaching across his vehicle to get his gun on the edge of the window and tried to shoot our tyres out to immobilise us. It would have been very easy to shoot straight across to my husband but he wasn't shooting at us, he was trying to shoot the tyres."

The couple tried slowing down to let the man pass as he tried to get alongside to take shots and driving in the centre of the road to stop him from getting close.

After a near 20km chase they came to a hill about 3km east of the popular tourist spot Tikitere where their late-model Toyota Hilux managed to accelerate away. The frightened couple drove straight to the Rotorua police station in the city centre for help.

The woman said their vehicle was covered in shotgun holes and had significant panel damage but they were unhurt. "We are a bit shaken by it, it really was quite awful," she said.

The man's rampage continued when he allegedly tailgated a woman at Hamurana, near Rotorua, about 8am.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Loper of Rotorua said the man overtook the woman at a blind corner and forced her to stop. He then approached her with an axe. When she challenged him, he apologised and left the scene.

The man was arrested that night after an armed offenders squad surrounded his Lake Rotoma home.

A 51-year-old man was to appear in the Rotorua District Court today on firearms, driving, cannabis and explosives charges.