Rotorua driver crashes through fence and leaves vital clue behind

A driver crashed a car through a fence and fled the scene, leaving a vital clue.

A fleeing driver who crashed through a Rotorua fence has left a vital clue – the car’s front bumper and licence plate.

But police say they can’t do much with it because it doesn’t prove who the driver was, disappointing a frustrated neighbour who has had enough of boy racers in the area.

Ryan Gray was at home about 9.30pm on Wednesday when he heard a car doing a burnout outside.

“Sadly, it’s an all too common occurrence in this area. I went out to see if I could take a photo. Turns out they’d crashed into a fence on Fenruss St, knocking it over and leaving debris all over the place.”

Gray said the driver fled the scene in the car, but left behind the front bumper and number plate.

“It would be quite something if the clown who crashed into the fence and drove off left behind a key way for the police to find them – their number plate.”

The Rotorua Daily Post asked police if anyone had been caught.

A media spokeswoman said police received a call at 9:34pm from a resident who said a car had damaged their fence and the driver had fled.

“Due to the time delay in reporting, police did not have positive lines of inquiry in order to complete an area search. The vehicle is not currently flagged as being stolen. The resident of the property has been advised to contact their insurance.”

When asked if police were seeking the driver based on the licence plate, the spokeswoman said: “Police can definitely use that to trace the registered owner, unfortunately, we would have no way to confirm it was them driving.”

Gray said the police response was disappointing, given Police Minister Mark Mitchell announced the Government’s new legislation to clamp down on boy racers when in Rotorua in May at a site two blocks away from Fenruss St.

In response to Gray’s criticism, Rotorua police area commander Inspector Herby Ngawhika said police were called 10 minutes after the offender had fled, which meant police had no immediate leads.

“At the time of the call, the person reporting the incident was advised to bring the bumper, along with the licence plate, into the local station and file a report.”

He said police would still encourage them to do this so police could assess the information and take any required action, including following up with the registered owner.

Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.