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Air New Zealand Link operator Eagle Air says it will take seriously passengers' complaints about a "hair-raising" minibus trip between Nelson and Westport.
Passengers said they feared for their lives on the journey, put on by the airline after their Westport-bound flight on Friday evening was cancelled because of bad weather.
They told the Westport News that the bus veered into the grass verge at least four times as the driver drove too fast in torrential rain, surface flooding and fog.
Westport farmer Marie Dickson told the newspaper the driving was "bizarre" and she thought they were going to crash.
"The way he drove was so bloody unsafe, it was crazy. Several times the guys said 'pull over, we'll drive, you can't'.
"It wasn't just a couple of people out of the 11 of us being a bit uptight. Everyone thought 'this is mad, we're going to end up upside down here'.
"It was sheer luck that we didn't."
Westport Landcorp farm manager Paul Hateley said the trip was "hair-raising" and the driver was "bloody hopeless". He said he had made a formal complaint.
Eagle Air operations manager John Calder said his company had not yet seen the complaints but would be taking them "very seriously".
He said he would be contacting the shuttle company for an explanation.
- NZPA
