Three car parks deemed too unsafe for vehicle recovery

Police are working closely with engineers to establish which car park buildings in Christchurch CBD are safe for the Vehicle Recovery Team to enter to retrieve vehicles.

As a result the following car parks have been declared too unsafe for retrieval at this stage.

• Smiths City (Columbo Street/Dundas Street)
• Lichfield Street car park
• Farmers car park on at 194 Oxford Terrace

Engineering assessments will continue regularly to assess if and when access can be made safe.

This means it is also not possible to update owners of the condition of individual vehicles at these locations.

Supt Sam Hoyle said: "We fully appreciate it makes lives very difficult for some people not knowing when, or even if, they will get their vehicle back, or whether it is in a driveable condition. Be assured that if we can retrieve a vehicle we will, but the advice of the engineers is that some buildings are just too unsafe at this stage."

Police are asking vehicle owners to please continue to be patience. The Police website (www.police.govt.nz) will be updated as and when new information and advice on vehicle recovery is available.

The website also contains Christchurch Car Finder link where owners can register their vehicle details making it quicker and easier to make contact should a vehicle be recovered.