Man comes back from smoko break in central Auckland to find his car crushed

November 12, 2020

Siosifa Kava had parked his car under the tree and headed off for work earlier today.

A man who parked his car in central Auckland today before going to work returned from a break to find it crushed under a large tree.

Siosifa Kava told 1 NEWS he went on a smoko break at about 1.30pm and was called by his friends saying his car had been crushed under a tree where it was parked at Saint Patricks Square on Wyndham Street.

“I was just shocked, I didn’t think it was true,” he said. 

“I parked it here this morning before work started and went to work and then, yeah, just shocked to come and see my car like this.”

A fire crew were on site to secure the area and assess the damage. Station officer Peter Cranwell said the tree had crushed one vehicle and was on top of another vehicle.

“Luckily. we checked to make sure there was no one in the vehicle. We found the owner but they had not been in the vehicle when the tree landed on it,” he said.

He could not say why the tree fell or if it was rotting. 

Auckland Council arborist Basile Privat said it was an exotic Melia tree that could be up to 20 years old.

He said the clean up would take about two hours -  having arranged for two crews to come down and cut up the tree and remove it from the site to make it safe. 

“There’s hardly any decay at the top and around the trunk but it’s mainly at the base,” he said.

“But it’s hard to say really,” he said, adding he expected Auckland Council to investigate the cause of the fall. 

Neighbouring restaurant owner Michael Dearth, who owns The Grove, told 1 NEWS the tree had been there for the 17 years he has had his restaurant operating.

“It was always just a big presence, and it’s sad because it kind of gave off a lovely smell,” he said.

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