Runaway truck pair honoured

Two strangers who worked together to prevent a fully laden rig from crashing on the Southern Motorway after the driver had a heart attack have been given special commendations by the police.

Anne Dromgool and Shane Mahuta were yesterday as reluctant to accept such praise as they were on the day of the event.

They said they both worked on natural instincts and acted as anyone else would.

Receiving the commendation was "a little overwhelming".

"I didn't expect any of this," said Ms Dromgool. "I only did what I had to do."

Mr Mahuta said he felt the same. He planned to hang his commendation on his living room wall.

However, in presenting the commendations North Shore/Waitakere/Rodney District Commander Superintendent Roger Carson said their actions on January 6 had potentially saved lives. He described the pair's actions as "very, very courageous".

"They saw it as an instinctive understanding on Anne's part of what Shane was trying to do. The pair of them collaborated over six minutes and 3km and did a wonderful job.

"We [the police] absolutely rely on assistance from the public in terms of public safety and road safety. "We don't always get it and when we do it's very much appreciated." Ms Dromgool was a passenger in a truck when its driver, Michael Whiu, had a heart attack on the Newmarket flyover and lost control of his rig.

The 43-year-old took the wheel and radioed the office for help while trying to slow the truck, which was swerving across lanes and scraping along the median barrier at 80km/h.

About 500m behind her Mr Mahuta saw what was happening. He drove alongside the swerving truck, then put himself in front of it - using his own truck to slow the other one down. Just over 3km later both trucks eventually came to a stop safely.

Although Mr Whiu died from his heart attack, no one else was injured on the busy motorway.

Mr Carson, Ms Dromgool and Mr Mahuta also took time at the ceremony to acknowledge the death of Mr Whiu.

He was described as one of the most safety-conscious truck drivers on the road.