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Hundreds of people missed flights at Auckland Airport yesterday after a truck and tourist bus collided closing the Southwestern motorway near the Mangere Bridge about 3pm.
The crash was one of about 80 collisions around Auckland and the upper North Island which stretched emergency services between 2pm and 6pm yesterday. Police are blaming inattention and an increase in traffic caused by people heading out of town for the long Auckland Anniversary Holiday weekend.
A man was taken to hospital in a serious condition after being cut free by firefighters when his truck and a tourist van collided near the Mangere Bridge about 3pm yesterday.
The crash saw a section of the Southwestern Motorway - a route for traffic heading to and from Auckland International Airport - closed for three hours, which meant many flights were missed. Some airlines were putting on additional services at no charge and others delayed flights in a bid to cope with stressed-out passengers trying to deal with traffic delays.
In other road accidents yesterday, a four car pile-up at Silverdale delayed travellers north of Auckland and on other motorways in Auckland a car ran into the back of an unmarked police car, and a motorcycle and car collided in non-injury crashes.
Traffic around the city was delayed as motorways struggled to cope with the increase in travellers and backlogs caused by crashes.
Inspector Matt Sillars of the police northern communication centre urged people to take care this holiday weekend and warned that police would be out in force.
