Keys Please – ask Canterbury Police

"Bring us your car keys please!" is the urgent request from New Zealand Police managing the Vehicle Recovery Operation in Christchurch.

Public carparks across the Christchurch central business district have been progressively cleared over the past week, and Police are now focusing on retrieving cars from CBD streets, public spaces, and private and underground carparks.

Police, New Zealand Defence Force and USAR staff will progressively clear these vehicles.

But in order to do that, they desperately need keys from vehicle owners who still have vehicles located in the CBD.

"As the operation is progressing, our process is changing along with that," says the officer heading the operation, Senior Sergeant Graham Reeves.

"Whereas we had previously asked people to bring their keys and details and wait for their car, we are now collecting keys and we will notify people once their car is available to be collected.

"If you still have car in the central city area and you haven't already been to see us, please bring us your keys as soon as possible."

Vehicle owners should bring their car keys, reasonable proof of ownership and some photo identification, such as a drivers licence, to the Vehicle Recovery Team located at the Armagh St entrance to Hagley Park. They will be asked to fill out a registration form, including contact details.

Senior Sergeant Reeves says once vehicles have been retrieved from the cordoned area, they will be kept at a site that is being monitored full-time by Police staff and licensed security guards.

Vehicle owners who have cars in the Farmers car park are also asked to bring their keys to the Vehicle Recovery Team in Hagley Park. Work is still underway to determine when vehicles will be able to be retrieved from this carpark as it has suffered structural damage, but Police need to collect these keys so that they can retrieve vehicles as soon as the building is deemed sound.

Vehicle owners who still have vehicles in public car park buildings already covered by Police are also asked to bring their keys to the Vehicle Recovery Team in Hagley Park (details as above).

Police are also constantly updating the database in relation to damaged vehicles and other vehicles that have been removed from the central city. Please use the search tool to get the latest information. This can be found at http://www.police.govt.nz/christchurch-cordon-car-finder-application

* A total of 2125 vehicles have now been retrieved from the central city cordoned area; 453 cars were retrieved from the Lichfield St carpark last night.

For further information about vehicle recovery, please check the Police website, http://www.police.govt.nz/christchurch-vehicle-recovery