Husband and pregnant wife avoid rolling truck

Emergency services spent several hours working out how to safely salvage the truck and its load. Photo / Dean Purcell

A man and his nine-month pregnant wife escaped injury when a truck bearing 39 tonnes of concrete swerved and rolled metres from the combined office and home they were in.

The Golden Bay Cement mixer failed to take the right-hand bend from Union St onto Sam Wrigley St in Auckland, about 4pm, crashing into a lamp.

No concrete was spilled, but police waited hours before righting the truck, assessing how best to do the job.

"The truck could have burst and we would have 39 tonnes of pressurised concrete everywhere," said Auckland city shift commander Inspector Willie Taylor.

Residents said the pole and the slope of the grass verge saved the couple, and that vehicles often spun out there.

Business owner Vincent Shao said he planned to contact the Auckland City Council about the corner, having seen about 30 crashes in a year.

"It's really bad here because all the drivers at night, they don't care. They don't try to drop their speed," he said.

Mr Shao was in his Sam Wrigley St office - which he lives above with his wife - when he heard "a big boom".

"I came outside to see what had happened and asked my wife and colleague to go out the back.

"My wife is pregnant, almost going to give birth."

Resident Rahul Tribedi called 111 when he heard a "huge, huge noise" and came out to see the rolled truck.

Pallab Kumar Mukhopadhyay said there was potential for more accidents to happen because traffic merged from Cook and Union Sts onto Sam Wrigley St at speed.

Police were at the crash scene for several hours yesterday and their commercial vehicle investigation unit is investigating the cause of the crash.

Paramedics treated the truck driver at the scene for shock and minor injuries, and he stayed to help with the salvage operation.

Traffic was diverted away from the site near the intersection of Cook and Hobson Sts and the Cook St motorway exit southbound was temporarily closed.