Man in serious condition after car rolls near Te Haroto

A 22-year-old man is in a serious condition after a car crash on the Napier-Taupo road yesterday. Photo / Paul Taylor

A 22-year-old man is in a serious condition after a car crash on the Napier-Taupo road yesterday.

Napier police said a truck driver saw the man's vehicle about 7.30am, after it had apparently rolled near the settlement of Te Haroto.

Fire and ambulance services attended. The driver, who was the sole occupant, was cut from the car and flown to Middlemore Hospital in Auckland by the Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter.

A hospital spokeswoman said the man was in a serious condition.

Meanwhile, the driver of a van that plunged several metres down a bank on the Napier-Taupo road early last year has been found guilty on seven charges of careless driving causing injury.

The crash happened when the southbound van deflected off a bank, crossed three lanes of highway and left the road soon after passing Tarawera, about 80km from Napier, about 6.45am on January 2, 2014.

It ended upside down and suspended above a ravine.

Driver Sandeep Kumar climbed out and made his way back up to the road, where he waved down another motorist.

The injured included a baby thrown out of the vehicle. While three people were seriously or critically injured, all survived.

Police later charged Kumar, who pleaded not guilty at a trial in Napier District Court in June. The outcome has been revealed in a reserved judgment by Judge Geoff Rea.

Kumar is due to appear in court again next Thursday for sentencing.

The court was told those in the van, including five from a Melbourne family, had left Auckland International Airport about 2am, bound for Hawke's Bay.

Kumar and another man had driven from Napier to Auckland the previous day.

On the return trip, Kumar, now 34, was said to have been awake for most of the journey but, having taken over the driving at Taupo, fell asleep at the wheel.

The judge said that fell below the standards of reasonable and prudent driving.