Dramatic video footage: Runaway rubbish truck writes off two expensive European cars

Dramatic video footage has emerged of a runaway rubbish truck crashing over a wall into an Auckland property and writing off two expensive European cars.

The St Heliers homeowner, who wished to remain anonymous, said his first reaction was of disbelief when he found out a rubbish truck had crashed onto his property.

"I got a phone call from my daughter who surprisingly said there was a rubbish truck in our front garden," he said.

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The incident, which took place in April this year, saw the truck crash through a fence, over a stone wall and into two cars parked in the driveway.

"Two cars were crushed, one was a BMW X5 and the other was an Audi Q3, and it resulted in them both being written off," the owner said.

"There was also damage to a stone wall and to a gate and fence.

"Fortunately there were three cars in the driveway and it missed one of them."

The owner said despite the initial shock of the incident, everyone responded "terrifically well" and nobody was injured.

"A whole bunch of people turned up – the insurers, some executives from the company, police and WorkSafe," he said.

"Fundamentally the brakes failed on the truck, only 30m up the road, and the truck came down across our driveway and landed off the wall you can see.

"The driver was outside the truck at the time which was lucky for him and no one was in our driveway which was very fortunate too."

He said the problem had since been resolved, with insurers paying out for the damage caused.

"The insurers and company involved were very good. It was just one of those little crazy things that happen to you over time, but it was all dealt with, no problem."

Auckland Council general manager of waste solutions Parul Sood said they were relieved to hear that nobody was injured.

"Following this incident, we ensured Waste Management thoroughly investigated what happened. We have sought assurance from them that they have appropriate steps in place to mitigate any similar incident happening in the future," she said.

"As well as Waste Management initiating their own investigation, the Serious Crash Unit and the police are also carrying out investigations. The final investigation reports from each of these are still pending.

"Thankfully incidents of this scale are rare, but we'd like to reassure Aucklanders that we take all incidents very seriously and we are continually working with our contractors to ensure collections are taken with the utmost care and regard for safety."