Driver wants compensation for tyre damage caused by tar

Delf Weinhold is using another car to get to work as he waits for an answer about the fresh tar on his wheels. Photo / Nick Reed

Delf Weinhold’s tyres are ruined after early-morning incident at Onewa Rd roadworks.

A Birkenhead man is battling for compensation after his car tyres were gummed up by new seal to which he says he was directed by Auckland road workers.

Delf Weinhold says he has been told tar damage to all four of his car's tyres has made it unsafe to keep driving on them.

But although his garage advised it would cost him more to have the tar scraped off than to buy a new set of tyres, he says he is having trouble holding Auckland Transport or contractors repairing busy Onewa Rd to account.

That has left him using another car to get to and from work in Mt Wellington. A spokesman for lead contractor Transfield Services said late yesterday it was reviewing his claim.

Mark Tafford of Tafford Motors confirmed he had inspected Mr Weinhold's Mazda car and deemed it unroadworthy until its tyres could be replaced, for $500 to $600.

"All that tar and metal puts the balance out of whack and once you get up to 60km/h it becomes like a jumping jack." Even a small amount of molten tar left on a tyre on a very hot day was enough to cause problems, but he said that the Onewa Rd case was the worst he had seen.

Mr Weinhold said he was driving west towards Birkenhead about 1.30am on March 12 when he and another vehicle in front of him were directed on to an eastbound lane.

"However, even on this lane, fresh tar was spread out and at the time had not dried properly," he said in a written complaint to Auckland Transport. "Despite that, I was waved through by five construction workers on site, all the way to the intersection [of] Onewa Rd-Birkenhead Ave."

He told the Herald a Transfield official had suggested he seek compensation from Auckland Transport, but the council body had in turn denied liability and advised him to contact the firm.

But he said the Transfield representative told him last week "we are just employed by AT and we are carrying out their work, so it's their liability at the end of the day".

He said it had been pitch dark on the night in question, and he could not see the state of the road, "but I didn't have a good feeling because it felt like I was driving through mud".

"I felt some wobbling and when I got home I found tar that was so hot some of it dropped on to my car park."

An Auckland Transport spokesman said it had received just one complaint about tar-damaged tyres on Onewa Rd, where a $1.8 million rehabilitation and resealing contract for a 1.06km stretch from Fairfax Ave to Birkenhead Ave was nearing completion.

"We referred the person [complainant] to the contractor for the project," was all he would say of Mr Weinhold's case.

Transfield stakeholder manager Warren Mann said that since hearing back from Mr Weinhold, he had referred his case on, where it remained under review.

"I have escalated it to my manager because it just seems an isolated incident on a very, very busy stretch of road," he said. "The incident is still under investigation so I can't comment on where it's going to end at this early stage."

Although completion of the main work will come as a relief for drivers of about 25,000 vehicles using Onewa Rd daily, Auckland Transport says it will take about six weeks to "cure" the relaid surface before markings for a new westbound T3 (high-occupancy vehicle) lane can be added.