A tourist driver who had his rental car keys taken off him while driving on the Lindis Pass was left stranded on the side of the road in a remote spot with three children, no cellphone reception and no idea what he had done wrong, he says.
However, the Queenstown man who took the keys said he made no apology for his actions and would do the same again to keep other motorists safe.
The man, who asked not to be named, was driving south behind another vehicle on the Lindis Pass on Sunday evening when he encountered the Kia Carnival rental car being driven in the opposite direction by the tourist driver, who is now facing police charges.
The man said the rental vehicle was performing a passing manoeuvre on a bend and was in the wrong lane, forcing the car in front of his to drive ''completely off the road'' to avoid a collision.
The tourist car then ''locked its brakes'', slid back across the centre line and narrowly missed the vehicle it was passing and the man's vehicle.
''It was just an absolute fluke that he didn't connect with anyone. If we had have been 5m up the road we wouldn't be having this conversation.''
The man had a background in motorsport and said he would ''like to think ... I know what I'm talking about ... it's just hard to put it into words just how close it was''.
The man did a U-turn and caught up with the vehicle. He said he flashed his lights, beeped his horn and gestured to the driver to pull over, but ''he had no intention of stopping''.
He then overtook the vehicle, slowed down and indicated, to get the other driver to pull in.
He said he asked the apologetic tourist driver to move his car off to the side of the road and told him: ''Look, you can't drive like that mate; you almost killed a carload of people''.
The man reached through the open car window, removed the keys from the ignition and explained that once he was back in cellphone range he would call the police, who would come and talk to the driver.
While the man's actions were heavily praised on social media yesterday, the tourist driver - who was from Australia and of Indian descent - and another motorist who stopped to help the stranded group believe the situation was inappropriately handled.
Mason Brown and his family, originally from Te Anau but now living on the Gold Coast, were flagged down by the tourist driver.
No other traffic had stopped to help, it was raining and one of the rental car's electric windows was down.
There were three young children and an elderly diabetic man among the group of seven and the wife of the driver was ''very distressed'', Mr Brown said.
''They were visiting from Sydney so they weren't sure why the person had pulled them over and taken their key. They didn't know about not having cellphone coverage [in the Lindis], they didn't know where the nearest town was, so they were just really freaked out about what had happened.
''They didn't have any food or water in the car. They didn't know how long they were going to be there ... we gave them bottled water and some bananas and they were very appreciative of those.''
While the driver's decision to take the keys was ''obviously in the interest of safety'', it had created other hazards.
''Because of where it was, it was incredibly dangerous and stressful for that family and for other drivers. The car was off the road but it could have been more safely pulled off the road.''
Mr Brown believed taking the keys would have been acceptable in a less remote area.
''I've heard that people were hailing this person as a hero but ... I just think the way that it was handled was not particularly appropriate.''
Speaking from Queenstown yesterday,the tourist driver, who declined to be named, told the Otago Daily Times the incident was upsetting for him, his wife, three children and two elderly friends.
''We were just driving [from Queenstown to Lake Tekapo] and all of a sudden someone came and ... blocked us and just ran to us and just pulled the key out of the car and ... we were stranded there without doing anything,'' the man explained.
''There is no right for any other person to stop someone else's car with a family and just take the key and make them stranded on the road ... anything could have happened.''
But the driver who took the keys said: ''Would you rather have distressed kids sitting in the back of the car or dead kids splattered across the windscreen? That's how close it was.
''As far as I see it, I just took the ammunition out of the gun. A car's a weapon in the hands of an idiot like that.''
Both he and the tourist - who held a full Australian driver's licence - reported the incident to police.
The tourist told the ODT he was not aware of doing anything wrong while driving.
Acting road policing manager Senior Sergeant Steve Larking said the rental vehicle had also been subject to an earlier complaint of slow driving on the Crown Range.
The tourist driver had been charged with careless use of a motor vehicle and summonsed to appear in the Alexandra District Court on January 28.
His rental car contract was cancelled.
Police said a bus had picked up the tourist party and driven them back towards Tarras.
Police intercepted the bus and accompanied the tourist driver to retrieve his vehicle.
He was then followed to Cromwell and reunited with his family and police assisted them with food and travel arrangements.
Snr Sgt Larking said while members of the public might wish to take action to prevent unsafe driving, it was best to always contact police in the first instance via *555 or 111.
''Getting into a situation where you are removing keys from someone else's vehicle can put you at risk. In this instance, police appreciate that the motorist believed he was acting in the best interests of public safety and he contacted police as soon as he was able to.''
