The driver of the landfill truck owned by All Waste, a company subcontracted to the Queenstown Lakes District Council, who did not want to be identified, said he and his assistant were almost at the end of their rubbish run for the day when they started to overtake a Downer truck parked in Morris Rd near Black Peak Rd, south of Wanaka township.
He said they had cleared the Downer truck's mirrors when they felt the right wheels sink into the soft, unsealed edge of the road and the truck began to tip over.
The Wanaka Volunteer Fire Brigade was called to the scene about 3.15pm.
Chief Fire Officer Ian Galloway said one man had jumped from the right-hand side of the cabin but the driver needed to be assisted out of the left-hand side of the truck.
Mr Galloway said the driver ''was too nervous'' to move in case his weight tipped the truck over.
The driver said the truck weighed about 8 tonnes to 9 tonnes and ''had a full load on board''.
Firefighters secured the truck to a nearby tree until a crane arrived to right it.
The driver said he had been driving waste disposal trucks for seven years and had ''never experienced anything like it''.
- By Kerrie Waterworth
