KEY POINTS:
Police are considering charging a Nelson man whose lies triggered a search and rescue operation.
The 26-year-old man texted his partner on Tuesday night, saying he was driving back to Nelson after dropping a friend at the Picton interisland ferry terminal and would be home soon.
He sent another text about an hour later later saying he'd been stopped by police and delayed.
At 4.30am yesterday, the man's frantic partner alerted police to his apparent disappearance after she'd driven along the dangerous Whangamoa Hill road between Nelson and the Rai Valley looking for him or signs of a crash.
Senior Sergeant John Maxwell said police and search and rescue volunteers from Nelson, Picton and Blenheim were called out about 5.30am and a helicopter was placed on standby.
"Our worst fear was that there was a person out there in an upturned vehicle somewhere either injured or dead," he told NZPA today.
"His partner had been driving up and down the Whangamoas, which is a dangerous stretch of road at any time. Given the weather we'd had the previous night, it made it even worse."
Calls to the man's cellphone went unanswered, but police managed to establish that calls had been made from it to a house in Hastings, where the man was located about 10am.
Mr Maxwell said police were considering laying charges against the man.
"This was a complete and utter waste of police resources and time," he said.
"He put a lot of people to inconvenience for something that transpired to be a thoughtless lie."
Mr Maxwell said the man told him he was visiting family and had wanted to see his daughter.
"I've advised him that I'd like to talk to him directly when he gets back to Nelson."
He said the man's partner was "less than impressed" with the explanation.
"No doubt she'll be having some stern words with him."
- NZPA
