A grit truck after its rolled off the Coronet Peak access
road and down a bank yesterday morning. Photo by Joanne
Carroll.
An NZSki truck driver had a lucky escape when his grit
truck slipped off the side of a bank and into a gully near the
Coronet Peak Ski Area base building yesterday.
Constable Phil Hamlin said the accident happened just before
7am.
"It appears the driver's been reversing the truck into an
area and with the icy, snowy morning, it has skidded and one
of the wheels slipped off the side of an embankment and [the
truck] overturned. It was two-thirds loaded with grit so
quite weighty and rolled down into the gully about 20m," he
said.
The 56-year-old driver was treated by a ski patrol for minor
injuries and transferred by ambulance to Lakes District
Hospital.
NZSki chief executive James Coddington said the driver was a
"little shook" after the accident.
"We had a maintenance work truck spreading grit and as it
backed into car park two, it went on to a false edge made of
snow. The false edge gave way and the back tyres went down
and it rolled once before coming to rest. It didn't go too
far down and only did one roll," he said.
The driver suffered lacerations to his head and hands and was
discharged from the hospital at 11am.
"He is obviously fairly traumatised. He has worked with us
for at least five years. He's been spreading grit for five
years. It was no fault of the driver. It was unfortunate that
the bank gave way," Mr Coddington said.
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