Vehicle recovery teams make good progress

Recovery of vehicles from the Christchurch CBD is continuing with more than 1400 vehicles already recovered by police and USAR teams.

As of today a total of 1415 vehicles have been retrieved from the CBD. Of these, 836 have been from public car parking buildings, with a further 579 retrieved from open street level car parks and streets, says Senior Sergeant Graham Reeves, who is managing Vehicle Recovery.

"As we work through this process we are making great progress in reuniting people with their vehicles," he says. "However we are working in an extremely difficult environment where regular safety assessments have to be made in relation to building access and to safely extract vehicles.

"Our team is doing a great job and we ask that vehicle owners be patient with us as we work hard to deliver vehicles from a challenging environment."

Police are continuing to clear public car parking buildings and from today are also putting in a process for people with vehicles parked on the street or in open, street level car parks in the CBD.

For vehicles parked on the street, in an open street level car park or in a private (eg business) car park in the CBD

As from today, police are requesting anyone with a vehicle in this situation to take their vehicle keys, proof of ownership and proof of identity (driver's licence or similar) to the white marquee at the Armagh St entrance to Hagley Park. People can do this between 8am and 6pm each day.

Once the vehicle is located it will be driven back to the parking area near the tent and you will be notified to come and pick it up. Please note this may take some days but this is being done as quickly as possible.

If you have already registered your vehicle details on the Police Car Finder at www.police.govt.nz, you still need to take your keys and documentation to the tent at Hagley Park.

For vehicles in a public car parking building
The Vehicle Recovery Team is working through a systematic process of recovering cars from public car parking buildings.

As we are not able to contact all vehicle owners personally, please keep an eye on the police website (www.police.govt.nz) for information about when the car parking building your vehicle is in is being cleared. This information is being updated as safety assessments are carried out to determine that parking buildings can be safely accessed and vehicles extracted.

If you have not been able to make the designated time when the parking building where your vehicle is parked was being cleared, police will make a second attempt to retrieve your vehicle. Please keep an eye on the Police website (www.police.govt.nz) for notification of when this will be. Please make sure you have registered your vehicle on the Car Finder page at www.police.govt.nz

Manchester St Car Parking Building
Tomorrow (Tuesday 22 March), a second attempt will be make to remove remaining vehicles from the Manchester Street car park on the corner of Gloucester Street and Manchester Street.

Owners should assemble in the white tent in the CPIT car park on the corner of Barbadoes Street and Moorhouse Avenue at 5pm on Tuesday. Owners will hand keys to Police and wait in the tent while the vehicle is retrieved by the Police team. Owners who haven't yet registered their vehicles should do so via the home page of www.police.govt.nz.

An operation is under way tonight starting at 5pm to recover vehicles from the Pavilion car park situated between Cashel Street and Bedford Row. The same arrangements apply as outlined above.
It is important to stress that these car parks are in the 'Red Zone' of the city with extra safety precautions in place to facilitate recovery. If owners don't use this window of opportunity to attend with their keys, it may be some time in the future before a further attempt can be made to recover a vehicle.

If you have a query about the recovery of your vehicle, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions at www.police.govt.nz/vehicle-recovery/FAQs or email the Vehicle Recovery Team at chchvehiclerecovery@police.govt.nz.