KEY POINTS:
A truckie wants a bravery award for the teenager who pulled him from his vehicle as it threatened to plunge into a river.
"He was definitely a real hero," Paul Clarke said. "I owe him a lot."
Mr Clarke, of Papamoa, was driving north from Gisborne when his
23-tonne truck slid off the road in a windy gorge near Opotiki.
It was late at night, and the 45-year-old was trapped in the cab as it hung a metre above the waters of the Waioeka River.
The weight of the truck's trailer was threatening to propel the vehicle into the river.
Then 18-year-old Peter Hanne arrived from his home nearby.
He climbed on to the shifting truck, smashed the cab's back window with a wheel brace, and hauled Mr Clarke to safety.
Mr Clarke escaped with broken ribs.
Police have also praised Mr Hanne for his actions in the Sunday-night incident.
Mr Clarke - who moved to New Zealand from Britain seven months ago - emailed the Herald after reading a story about the 18-year-old in Wednesday's paper.
"He had the confidence of an experienced rescuer, giving no thought for his own life to rescue me," he wrote. "If my truck had gone, he would have gone with me. I cannot thank him or praise him enough, as without his help who knows what may have been."
Mr Clarke said he wanted to nominate Mr Hanne for a bravery award.
He was also grateful to Mr Hanne's mother for giving him a blanket and a cup of tea.
Speaking from his Papamoa home yesterday, he said the 45 minutes he spent trapped in the truck had been scary. "I didn't know how far I was down, it was pitch black."
He said his vehicle was making lots of noise, but he could not get out the driver's door because it was wedged against bushes.
When he leaned towards the passenger side, the truck began moving, so he thought it wise to stay still.
He could not use his cellphone, as there was no reception, and his air horn ran out of air after he sounded it several times. His last resort - the electric horn - was making only a faint sound when Mr Hanne arrived.
"All I saw was this body with a pair of shorts on," Mr Clarke said.
Mr Hanne and his family were roused by a passing motorist who had seen the truck's headlights down the 4m bank.
Mr Hanne ran from the house, yelling at his parents to call the police.
He climbed 3m down from the road to reach the cab, and could see the top splintering and moving as it came under pressure from the jack-knifed trailer, which lay parallel to the road.
"I just had to be quick because I didn't know how long it was going to stay there," Mr Hanne said.
The 18-year-old dismissed any notion that his actions were heroic, saying, "Nah, that's not true. It was just right time, right place."
Mr Clarke said he was not speeding, but suspected the truck had slid on mud or oil as it came around a corner in drizzling rain.
Paul Clarke's letter to the Editor:
I am the driver rescued from my truck by the heroism of 18-year-old Peter Hanne, as featured in a Herald article.
I was injured and trapped, and this young lad appeared from nowhere. He had the confidence of an experienced rescuer, giving no thought for his own life to rescue me.
If my truck, which was teetering on the brink of the Waioeka Gorge, south of Opotiki, had gone over, he would have gone with me.
I cannot thank him or praise him enough because without his help, who knows what may have been.
If there is a bravery awards scheme, I would like to nominate him.
I have suffered broken ribs, but it could have been far worse. I cannot thank him enough and also his Mum for the blanket and tea.
As a Briton who has been in New Zealand for only seven months, I cannot believe Peter's selfless bravery.
Paul Clarke, Papamoa East.