Rubbish collector badly hurt after car hits truck

The injured man has been transferred to Waikato Hospital for surgery. Photo / File

A Rotorua rubbish collector is in hospital with serious leg injuries after he was hit by a car while working.

The Rotorua Contracting staff member was hit while he was standing on the platform at the back of a rubbish truck in Sunset Rd on Wednesday about 8.45am. He was in a crew of three working near the Wrigley Rd intersection.

The man was standing on the side nearest to the road when a vehicle "ran up the back end" of the truck, said Rotorua police Sergeant Chris McLeod.

The other two workers were not injured.

Mr McLeod said the driver of the car was "devastated".

"The serious crash unit is investigating and one avenue is that the crash was possibly caused by sunstrike," he said.

The injured man has been transferred to Waikato Hospital for surgery. Rotorua Contracting is a business unit of the Rotorua Lakes Council.

The council was providing support for the man and his family as well as his colleagues, said Rotorua Contracting chief executive Tim Hammond.

It is also conducting an internal investigation, alongside investigations by police and WorkSafe.

"This is obviously traumatic for everyone who is directly involved," Mr Hammond said.