Driver claims 'truth bent' after PM's accident

The dented Golf after Helen Clark's car was rammed into it.

The Prime Minister's crash on Ponsonby Rd caused $3100 worth of damage to the other car and left the driver needing 11 chiropractor appointments to treat her neck injury.

While Helen Clark has minimised the three-car accident before Christmas, the woman whose car was hit has given a markedly different version of events to the Herald.

The accident happened at the corner of Ponsonby and Franklin Rds, when the PM's car was hit by a following diplomatic protection squad car and shunted into a Volkswagen Golf.

Last week Helen Clark said: "As far as I could see it was only the back of my car which had been affected. So the only person who could have been hurt was me."

However, the driver of the Volkswagen, who asked not to be named, said the accident was not a minor fender-bender and it took a panelbeater 40 hours to fix her car.

"It was a heavy impact. We [she and her three passengers] were all knocked forward."

Their recollection of the accident and what happened after appears to differ from the officials' view.

In contention is whether the driver of the Crown car transporting the Prime Minister, which hit the woman's car, stopped and checked to see whether there were any injuries.

The Land Transport Act requires that in an accident, whether caused directly or indirectly by the driver, the driver must stop and find out whether anyone has been injured, as well as provide the correct number plate.

On March 22, police spokeswoman Noreen Hegarty told the Herald: "The information I have was that all vehicles stopped and the motorists involved were asked if there were any injuries.

"There were none and the Crown car continued on from the scene. The VIP protection car remained."

However, the driver told the Herald that she did not tell the police that both cars - the Prime Minister's and the police escort - stopped at the scene.

In fact, the driver said she was not aware that two other cars were involved until police told her later.

She said that after the accident one car briefly pulled ahead of her and stopped in front of her car before driving off.

"I remember talking to the passengers and saying, 'They've disappeared. This is weird. What's going on?"'

The driver said that about two minutes later two diplomatic protection squad officers walked back to the scene of the accident.

They asked if there were any injuries, and one gave the woman a licence plate number. At that stage she incorrectly presumed he was the driver who hit her.

The officers told her they were travelling with another car which was carrying a VIP. They would not say who.

While it became apparent several days later that it was the driver of the Crown car that hit her, the woman believes she was led to think the diplomatic protection squad officer had. She is adamant she did not speak to the driver of the Crown car.

"I only spoke to one driver. I did not speak to the driver who hit me."

The week after the accident she received a call from the Department of Internal Affairs and was told the licence plate number she had been given was not the number of the car which hit her. The man gave her another number - for the Crown car.

The woman said she did not mention her neck injury at time of the accident, as it did not become painful until later, but told one of the officers a few days later.

She said she had not realised the PM had been in the car which hit her until police later told her.

She had not been concerned about the accident until she realised the official version of what happened was not what she recalled.

"I do take some exception to them completely bending the truth, when that is not my recollection, and I have checked with all three of the passengers who were in my car, who don't recall both cars stopping."

A spokesman for Helen Clark said she had nothing to add to what police had said about the incident.


The collision

* At midday on December 9 the Prime Minister's Crown car and a diplomatic protection squad (DPS) car were travelling along Ponsonby Rd, heading towards Herne Bay.
* In front of the Crown car was a Volkswagen Golf.
* At the Franklin Rd corner a car in front of the Golf suddenly braked.
* All cars were forced to brake, but the DPS car could not stop in time and hit the back of the Crown car.
* The Crown car was shunted into the back of the Golf.