Police investigate second Matamata hit-and-run

Police are investigating a second hit-and-run in the Matamata area a few hours after an ambulance was struck by a rogue ute.

The latest incident happened at Tatuanui, 29km north-west of Matamata about 1am, said Constable Leon Sutton, of the Matamata-Piako Strategic Traffic Unit.

A lone woman driver escaped serious injury when her car was shunted off the road near the intersection of State Highways 26 and 27 as she returned from a conference at Whitianga, on the Coromandel Peninsula.

"A vehicle has suddenly appeared and basically carried out a moving block, slamming into her Rav 4 and shunting her left, through a hedge, a fence and then a ditch," Mr Sutton said.

"The woman's car eventually came to rest in a paddock and the other vehicle drove off without the driver stopping."

He believed the woman escaped serious injury because she had reduced her speed entering a 70km/h zone.

Mr Sutton said police initally thought the crash was related to an earlier hit-and-run involving an ambulance taking a seriously injured paitent to hospital a few hours earlier but that had since been discounted.

The first crash happened on Hinuera Rd, 5km south of Matamata, just after 5pm yesterday.

A ute appeared to lose control on a bend and crossed the centre line, striking the ambulance's left side.

It then continued towards Matamata without stopping.

The ambulance driver managed to slow to about 20km/h before the collision and the patient and crew were unhurt.

Police are still trying to find the drivers of both utes.

- NZPA