People whose vehicles have been stuck in the Rydges Car Park on Oxford Tce in Christchurch since the February 22 earthquake will get a chance to retrieve them tonight via police.

Owners of cars are asked to assemble on the corner of Barbadoes St and Moorhouse Ave from 5pm. There they can hand keys to police, who will retrieve the car.

Police said car owners needed to bring keys, identification and proof of ownership. If they had asked someone else to pick it up for them, that person would need to bring authorisation.

Nobody other than police officers can go to the car park themselves to pick the car up due to safety reasons. The process may take some hours as only one vehicle can be removed at a time, police said.

No car park retrieval will take place tomorrow due to the memorial service, but it resumes on Saturday with more than 300 cars being retrieved from the Wilson Car Park on Cashel St, close to the unstable Hotel Grand Chancellor.

Owners were asked to assemble on the corner of Barbadoes St and Moorhouse Ave from 11am.

Owners who have yet to register their vehicles are asked to do so on the police website.

Hundreds of vehicles have already been recovered from inside the inner-city cordon, where about 4400 vehicles were stranded following the deadly quake.

- NZPA

Related articles: