Truckies, boy racers and the police are calling for calm as the fall out from an attack on a driver escalates with death threats continuing to be thrown around.
Blue Ice Transport Ltd truck driver Jordan Martin, 21, was hit over the head with a mini fridge after accidentally swiping a boy racer's car at an illegal street meet on Industry Rd on Penrose on Friday night.
He was chased down, the road eventually blocked and his truck stopped when the attack occurred.
But today, with hundreds of death threats being dished out - mainly to boy racers - all parties are now urging everyone to calm down and forgo any possible vigilante action.
Meanwhile police say they will be increasing their presence around the Industry Rd area to ensure trucks can drive around the area in peace.
The call comes after screen grabs of a recent Facebook post by a person in the boy racer fraternity claimed the truckies were trying to get their street addresses so was calling out friends to be ready.
"All the truckers are trying to get address of everyone that was at industry ski masks and bats in cars is it for this weekend, don't let a few of these little piggy informants take us out ! Let's mobb deep these c****!"
The Herald has approached the man who made the post for comment and is awaiting a response.
However, a relative of the man whose car was swiped by Martin's truck said the whole situation was now out of control and he's never experienced anything like it in his 15 years of street racing.
"We all need to chill and not go out until all this has cooled down. I have no interest in the drama at all. I have not messaged or commented on any Facebook posts and have even deactivated my Facebook account."
The man urged all the boy racers to calm down and if the truckies did do anything then they would be the ones that looked bad.
He claims that in recent days, owners of modified cars had been targeted by truck drivers while on the road, some claiming they had been run off the road.
He said Martin yesterday texted his relative and apologised to him, on behalf of the trucking community, as things were now out of control.
Truck driver Quinnton Hubbard, who is also friends with Martin, has been vocal on the incident since it happened on Friday night and initially made a call for information on those involved in the attack.
However, now that those involved have come forward and been spoken to by police, Hubbard says the matter now needs to lie in the hands of police.
"I've spoken to two young people, they've made themselves known, and they're remorseful for it. All I wanted was the guys to be held responsible ... their names have been given to police and they are dealing with it and that's all we need to do."
He said there were now people involved - on both sides - that were not there on the night but were inflaming the situation.
"It's getting out of hand ... there's a lot of guys out there and they've calmed down, but there's a couple out there that are continuing to stir shit up.
"These messages that [boy racers] have been sending messages ... they're making our work to try and calm this thing down pointless."
Hubbard said truckies still used the Industry Rd area and he didn't want to hear of a confrontation happening on Friday night that might not have a nice outcome.
"It will turn into a shit fight."
As for the owner of the Honda Integra who lost his job and his flat and has been given hundreds of death threats, Hubbard said although that was "unfortunate" he would just have to deal with the consequences.
However, he didn't condone any death threats or physical harm and asked for it to stop.
The driver was pictured ripping the driver's door of Martin's truck - an image truckies would liken to as having someone ripping the front door off their home.
"Unfortunately that's going to stay in people's minds. I have spoken to [driver] and just said 'hey, unfortunately the actions you have taken will have consequences ... a lot of truckies are very highly strung people.
"They're not exactly your Sunday church preachers. It's going to take a while for things to calm down."
The incident had also put a strain on Martin and his boss Paul Stone of Blue Ice Transport in Rotorua, who had been fielding calls both in support and against him.
Road Transport Forum chief executive Ken Shirley said the spat had got "totally out of hand and both sides need to just calm down".
"The kind of vigilante justice being threatened from both sides principally through social media is totally unacceptable and does nothing to help the situation."
The incident that kicked it all off was "extremely ugly", he said.
"No driver deserves to be attacked at their place of work, regardless of who was originally at fault for the accident."
Any illegal activity on either side should be dealt with by the authorities, he added.
Counties Manukau road policing manager Inspector Rod Honan said it was disappointing to see the incident escalate to the state that it had.
"It was an incident that was relatively minor in nature to begin with that escalated quite quickly and I just hope that common sense prevails and everything dies down and they let the police do their job.
"Ideally we want everybody to use the road safely and for those that don't then unfortunately the police will have to hold them to account."
There would be a few more police in the Industry Rd area this week.
"Yes, we will be increasing our presence because I want to ensure that road users have the trust and confidence in police to let them go about their business in a lawful way. And those that choose to come to Industry Rd to break the law they can be assured they will be held to account."
Honan said they did not want any road, including Industry Rd, to be used for a street meet and encouraged car enthusiasts to use facilities like the Meremere drag strip or Horsham Downs.
Honan said their intel team was monitoring what was being said on social media and were aware of threats being made.
"We are aware and we are responding to those threats as well, but it is just part of the investigation as it takes its natural progress."
He said the CIB was "following strong leads" in its investigation as to what happened and that it was likely charges would be laid.
"I'm not privy to those [charge] decisions but in light of what's seen on social media and what's in the news then I would say we would be holding people to account for their actions.
"It seems a little bit over and above for what the actual incident was. And if I could just ask, that anyone seeing this type of action or being a victim of this type of action is to contact us because that's our job, it's not anybody else's job to seek retribution or the like."
Honan said, disappointingly, the district's road toll was up by five - 35 compared to 29 - as at June 30 and speed, alcohol and lack of restraints were the main causes. He urged people to stick to the road rules.
Honan welcomed anyone who had a complaint to dial *555, 111 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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