Tourist driver has car rental contract torn up

Senior Sergeant Brian Benn (inset) said a member of the public alerted police to a car seen swerving over the centre line multiple times near Queenstown. Photo / ODT / Thinkstock

A Chinese tourist had her rental car contract torn up and rewritten by a rental company after she was pulled over by police for alleged dangerous driving near Queenstown yesterday.

Southern District Command Centre deployment co-ordinator Senior Sergeant Brian Benn, of Dunedin, said a member of the public alerted police to a car seen swerving over the centre line multiple times on the Crown Range about 4pm yesterday.

Police intercepted the vehicle near Queenstown and the rental car company was contacted by police to assess if the car should be taken off the driver, or the driver be allowed to continue.

A representative from the company's Queenstown office was sent to the roadside scene, he said.

''They changed the contract on the vehicle so the person who was driving badly was written out of the contract.

''There was another person in the car that could drive.

''They did a roadside driving skills test, and they [the rental company] ascertained this person was a competent driver. He took over the driving.''

Seniorr Sergeant Benn declined to name the rental car company, but praised it for its response to the situation.

''The rental company came up with a pretty practical solution, I think.

''It was a good resolution.'' he said.

The driver was given an infringement notice by police and forbidden by the rental car company to drive the vehicle.

The incident comes after a pair of Chinese tourists had their South Island tour cut short at Fox Glacier earlier this month, when police impounded their rental car after numerous complaints about their driving.

The Government has been urged to crack down on tourist drivers following a triple fatal crash on Queen's Birthday Weekend, when Dutch businessman Johannes Jacobus Appelman ran a stop sign, killing Sally Vanessa Summerfield, 49, her daughter Ella Yasmin Summerfield, 12, and Ella's friend Abi Hone, 12 in Canterbury.