Tourist escapes after nearly sliding off 50 metre bank

The Pukenui Fire Brigade was called to Tapotupotu about 6.30pm on Wednesday arriving to find a station-wagon had slid off a corner on a hill near the camp-ground. Photo / File

A German tourist managed to get out of a car safely when it slid off a corner and almost over the edge of a 50m bank.

The Pukenui Fire Brigade was called to Tapotupotu about 6.30pm on Wednesday arriving to find a station-wagon had slid off a corner on a hill near the camp-ground.

It was balanced on a manuka tree at the top of a 50m-high, 45-degree slope.

Deputy Fire Chief Guy Herring said no one was present and the Subaru Legacy was at such a steep angle, fuel was leaking from the petrol cap.

Fire Service called for a tow-truck to retrieve the car yesterday.

Crunch Bradley, of Bradley Tractor and Towing, said he was expecting a difficult job when he heard the first call for a tow-truck.

He said his driver had spoken to the German man, and understood that the car had been going too fast for a sharp bend in the road.

"He hit his breaks, and on the soft, loose metal it just slid off the bank."

Mr Bradley said the driver was lucky and the car wasn't very badly damaged.

"The windscreen was cracked from hitting a tree, and a headlight was damaged, but other than that there was no major damage.

"We thought it was going to be [difficult]. I sent the young fella up with all sorts of ropes and blocks and things. [Then] he says 'I could have pulled it back on with a Land Rover."

Mr Bradley said a lot of cars go off the side of the road on Cape Reinga Rd because the metal on the road is still loose.

"A lot of accidents on that Cape Rd are not very serious because there's so much scrub and ti-tree on the side of the road.

"It's a 50m drop down there, but you'd have a job to drive a tractor down there, let alone a car in free fall," he said.

Mr Bradley said he understood the driver was travelling with a group of friends and they had intended on driving to Paihia now they had the car back.