Vehicle seizure thwarts league star's test drive

Tawera Nikau's participation in the Hamilton commuter challenge this week was red-carded when police confiscated his high-powered V8 ute.

It meant the former Kiwi rugby league star couldn't get from his home in Huntly to Hamilton, where he was to have driven a Honda hybrid electric car.

Several well-known people took part in Monday's challenge to see how long it took to get from Hamilton suburbs to Garden Place during rush hour.

Nikau was in Wellington for the weekend and found his US-made Dodge Ram had been confiscated when he returned home on Sunday.

"It was all a bit of a shock really. I'd been down at the Wellington Sevens and learnt someone had been using it while I was away," he said.

Nikau was unsure of the reason for the confiscation.

A police spokesman said strict criteria were involved in the confiscation of vehicles.

"A person would have to be driving unlicensed or have a very high excess breath-alcohol reading to lose a vehicle," he said.

"Other reasons include dangerous driving or driving to cause your vehicle to lose traction - that's burnouts and such-like under the boy-racer legislation."

- NZPA