Elderly driver's car plunges down bank at Lake Taupō

A car has gone over and down a bank at Lake Terrace in Taupō at the Ruapehu St intersection.

An elderly driver's car has crashed down a bank at Lake Terrace in Taupō.

Police were called to the Ruapehu St intersection scene at 8.24am.

Sergeant Greg Weston said it appeared that the 90-year-old male driver of the car, who had been heading south on Ruapehu St, had either failed to stop at the give way and then collided with another car before going over the bank, or had seen the other car and lost control.

Witnesses had said the man's car mounted the footpath, crashed through a chain link fence and over the bank, flipping onto its roof before coming to rest on its wheels, he said.

The man was helped from the scene by firefighters. He had minor injuries and taken to Taupo Hospital. The driver of the other car was uninjured.

A specialist tow truck will be brought down from Rotorua at about 12 noon to 1pm today to remove the car from the lakefront, Weston said.

The car is not in the lake and is not leaking fuel or oil.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand Northern shift manager Scott Osmond said the car had gone down the bank to the edge of the lake, but had not submerged.