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Leave for work early or take the day off is the advice for
commuters on Friday.
Truck drivers plan to invade central city roads from 7am claiming
they will struggle to pay increased road user charges.
The protest by the truck drivers is expected to bring traffic in many parts of the country to a standstill, with police warning motorists to either get to work before 7.30am or take the day off.
"There's a potential for massive disruption and not only during the protest but for several hours afterwards as we clear the traffic," says Superintendent John Kelly, the Road Policing Manager.
Truckies say a surprise hike in road user charges two days ago was the last straw. The increase of between 7% and 10% has been imposed to help with the damage large trucks do to the country's roads.
And transport operators say the increase in cost may be passed on to consumers with the freight business getting more and more expensive and the government's increases on Road User Charges doing nothing to ease the pressure.
Auckland will be the worst affected of all the cities where the protests are planned as at least 2000 truckies hit the motorway and head toward the town hall. From the west, they will take the Nelson St off ramp, heading right onto Victoria Street, then right onto Queen Street. Those coming from the North Shore will drive down the Cook Street off ramp onto Nelson Street, right onto Victoria and onto Queen Street.
The convoy coming from south Auckland will take the Symonds Street off ramp, again turning right onto Queen Street.
In Wellington, a group will leave from McKays Crossing on State Highway 1 around 7am. A second group will leave from Seaview. They will head through the Terrace tunnel and both groups will converge on the Beehive.
Around 270 trucks are expected in Christchurch, with half of them head up Blenheim Road and along Montreal Street. The other half will come from the Northern Motorway, down Papanui Road and into the CBD.
In Dunedin around 100 trucks will use the one way system into the Octagon.
There will be smaller protests in Invercargill, Christchurch, Wellington, Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga and Rotorua, where logging trucks are expected to join in.
"The timing of this increase couldn't have been worse," says Tony Friedlander, Road Transport Forum chief executive officer.
"What we've got is an industry that is facing record oil prices, other increases as well. On the same day Road User Charges went up, our ACC levies went up as well."
Organisers say drivers will try to stick to the left lane only during the protests.
"We're simply driving into those city centres, there will be some congestion obviously and we're disappointed that the public will be inconvenienced but there's really no other way," says Friedlander.
They will lose a day's profit but trucking companies say public support for drivers has been phenomenal.
"We've never had this kind of response from the public indeed and we get such a lot of bad publicity it's really nice to be getting some good attention," says Chris Carr, a trucking company owner.
With gridlock expected, Transport Minister Annette King says she is unimpressed.
"They can make their point, but it should not be at the expense of other road users who are paying their fair share," says King.
King defends the road user increase and says large trucks do the most damage to New Zealand's roads.
"We have to pay for our transport system out of the money we take off users and it's fair heavy trucks and light diesels pay their fair share into that fund," says King.
What has upset transport operators is that King has not given them the month's notice they claim she promised.
She denies there was ever any promise made to give the trucking industry a month's warning of the increase.
"Petrol cars, they don't get notice either. It goes up, it's adjusted and they pay it immediately at the pump," says King.
She says she's appalled at the truckies' plan to block central city streets with big trucks during rush hour.
King says it's only the second increase in road user charges in 19 years and truckies should keep things in perspective.
In the end it's more bad news for all as consumers will end up paying for the increase.
"The increase in Road User Charges will go straight on to freight rates. We have no option but to pass it on," says Friedlander.
Friday's protest will be the first time trucking companies have taken national action.
The protest is expected to end around 9:00am but the backlog caused may take some time to clear.
A similar situation is occurring overseas as hundreds of British trucks have demonstrated in London against rising fuel prices.
Find out what route the truckies will be taking in your town
