KEY POINTS:
Police say it was lucky no one was killed or injured when a driverless fuel tanker careered into a Queenstown house yesterday morning.
The tanker was delivering heating fuel to a home in Anderson Heights when it plunged backwards about 50m down the driveway and into the lounge of a house across the street.
Police said no one was in the house at the time and there was little traffic.
"It's very fortunate no one was injured or killed," Sergeant Callum McNeill, of Queenstown police, said.
Mr McNeill said the driver was sure he'd put the handbrake on when he parked on the sloping driveway.
The driver left the tanker's engine running and was connecting a hose to the house tank when the vehicle took off.
The Northern Southland Transport Holdings vehicle had been seized for testing by the police.
Mr McNeil said police had to contact the owner of the damaged house to tell her. "It's gone straight through the front door and into the lounge," he said. The owner seemed pleased the truck had missed her television set and a new lounge suite.
- NZPA
