An elderly NZ Post rural mail contractor in Hokitika was seriously injured after being run over by her own vehicle last night.
Diane Howe was unloading parcels from the back of her van at a property with a sloping driveway, just north of the Hokitika town limit on State Highway 6, when the accident occurred about 7pm.
Constable Sonya Rea, of Hokitika police, said another person was helping unload the vehicle when it rolled backwards. That person alerted emergency services, and Mrs Howe was airlifted to Grey Base Hospital from the accident scene.
By this morning her condition was listed as "more stable" and she was being flown to Christchurch Hospital for further treatment, Ms Rea said.
The vehicle would undergo tests as part of normal police inquiries, and at this stage it was not known if the handbrake was working or not.
