A mother who, along with her daughter, narrowly avoided serious injury after being hit by a rolling tourist bus in central Auckland says there will be "no closure" for her after an investigation failed to determine what went wrong.
The double-decker Soaring Kiwi bus rolled down Victoria Street West on January 13, hitting Renée Rose Annan and her daughter Āria near the intersection of Albert Street.
They were pulled from underneath the bus by bystanders and, almost miraculously, neither was seriously hurt.
A WorkSafe investigation was launched, and after initial inquiries it was handed over to police.
WorkSafe recommended that Hassle-Free Tours, which operates Soaring Kiwi, participate in a "duty holder review process", which involves examining what measures can be put in place to prevent similar incidents - they have since completed that process.
A spokesperson for police confirmed the incident had been "extensively" investigated by both the serious crash unit and the commercial vehicle safety team.
"These inquiries looked into the driver's actions during the incident as well as the condition of the bus involved," a police spokesperson said.
"Police have reviewed the overall findings from both our own inquiries and those of the independent experts - no offence had been identified and no mechanical fault could be identified.
"Based off of those findings, police are treating the cause of the crash as unexplained - police have not laid any charges following our investigation.
'AN OPERATOR'S WORST NIGHTMARE'
Mark Gilbert, managing director of Hassle-Free Tours, said he and his staff were mortified by the incident.
"Everyone was pretty shaken up and shocked when it happened, but we were extremely thankful that no one was more seriously hurt in the accident," he said.
The bus had been serviced a week earlier, Mr Gilbert said, and the driver involved had done everything correctly.
Mr Gilbert said video footage from inside the bus showed the driver activating the handbrake after coming to a stop on Victoria Street West.
No one else was on board, and the driver then got out of the bus and chatted with another staff member for between two and four minutes.
The bus then rolled backwards down Victoria Street West, and Mr Gilbert said his inquiries with staff and witnesses had found that the handbrake was no longer on when it came to a stop near Albert Street.
Mr Gilbert and police both said there were no faults with the handbrake system, according to multiple independent inspections.
"Somehow, and we can't figure out how this happened, but the handbrake lever came off after the driver put it on," Mr Gilbert said.
"The driver put the handbrake on properly - we can see that in the CTV footage.
"We've tried to replicate it doing it, but we can't even replicate it to do what it did - it's a mystery, we don't know how it happened."
Mr Gilbert said all Soaring Kiwi buses were being retrofitted with a new, more modern type of handbrake as a precaution.
'NO CLOSURE'
Ms Annan told 1 NEWS she found the outcome of the investigation "quite confusing."
Now she’s praising the bystanders who rescued them, calling them angels.
"It's nice to know they've looked into it as much as they could - but it's a bit bizarre not knowing why it happened," she said.
"There's no closure, completely, with not knowing what happened - I just want to know."
Her injuries, as well as her daughter's, have mostly healed, with some road rash on Ms Annan's arm being the last visible reminder.
However, she said the incident has left her "quite nervous around buses".
Overall, she said she remains incredibly grateful to the members of the public who helped her that day, as well as to the St John Ambulance crew.
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