They were two of about 200 vehicles to get snowed in along State Highway One, north of Dunedin, on Monday evening.
When working his late shift on Monday, Senior Sergeant Karl Hemmingsen was responding to a crash in the Dunedin-Waitati Rd at 7pm.
He said the car may have slipped due to the wet, slushy and snowy conditions along the highway.
"There were trucks and cars, an ambulance was amongst it too, without a patient thankfully."
As traffic backed up, hundreds of cars found themselves unable to do anything but wait for the scene to be cleared, however thick snow began to set in.
"The snow just come down quite thick — of course everyone just slowed down because of that crash, they weren’t cutting tracks through the snow anymore . . . from there it just compounded really quickly.
"Once they’re stuck, that’s it."
The driver of the Reilly’s tow truck brought to move the car also found themselves stuck in the snow — with the truck only able to be freed this morning.
Included in the stuck car tally were two police patrol cars — but not any Snr Sgt Hemmingsen was driving, because he was carrying snow chains.
Snr Sgt Hemmingsen called for someone to get the spare pairs in his office in Dunedin to get the other patrol cars mobile again.
"Strangely enough, no one knows how to put chains on anymore — these new police officers and not one of them, the entire frontline group that were working, had a clue on how to put a set of chains on."
He said the fledgling officers got a quick lesson on how to attach a set of chains.
Eventually, a snow plough came to save the day — but also got stuck in the thick snow.
After that, another snow plough came to save the day and freed the first plough.
Both got to work clearing a path for snowed in drivers.
However, plenty of people also found themselves "frozen in fear" and unable to bring themselves to move their cars once a path was cut.
Snr Sgt Hemmingsen found himself getting into the driver’s seat of cars and moving them off the snowy path and into the cleared lane.
"Some people were too scared to even carry on from there, so I'd drive it all the way out and then walk back and start again."
He said everyone should be reading weather warnings before heading off on a drive.
"People go, ‘oh, you know, we’re just talking 100 metres up, that’s not going to affect us’, not realising that the northern motorway is above that point."
There was also a small handful of people getting impatient and attempting to force their way through the snow.
"Most people were pretty good through," he said.
