Wanaka St John paramedic Don McMillan clambers up a bank while Lake Hawea and Wanaka firefighters use ropes to haul a female patient and stretcher to the top, following a car accident on State Highway 6. Photo by Marjorie Cook

A Lake Hawea woman was treated for a back injury in Dunstan Hospital yesterday morning after the car in which she was a passenger left State Highway 6 between Maungawera and Albert Town about 8.15am and rolled about 15m down a bank.

The driver was her 15-year-old son, who was driving to school in Wanaka on his learner's licence.

He was treated for grazes and a bruised knee.

The station wagon in which they were travelling was substantially damaged and narrowly avoided dropping into a creek or landing on a low concrete wall.

Constable Bruce McLean, of Wanaka, said investigations were continuing into whether the boy would be charged with a driving offence.

The names of the pair were not available yesterday.