Family believe truck damage to home too bad to fix

The family who narrowly missed serious injury when a 44-tonne truck ploughed off the Southern Motorway and into their home are expecting insurance assessors to arrive today.

Kowhai Mason and her 4-year-old daughter, Toiahi Hepene, were watching television in the living room of their Otara granny flat when the truck and a van collided on Wednesday. Both vehicles crashed across the motorway, through a fence and into the side of Miss Mason's home.

Miss Mason expected assessors to arrive today to inspect the damage but believed it would probably be too great to repair.

Salvageable belongings were removed from the flat after the accident but the rest remain lodged in a crushed spare room.

J. Swap Contractors, the company that owns the truck that crashed, yesterday offered the family temporary accommodation.

However, Miss Mason, her partner, Vili, and their daughter have decided to stay with relatives.

A spokesman for J. Swap Contractors said "anything that needed to be done would be done" for the family.

Police are still investigating the cause of the accident, which also involved two other small trucks and a car.