About 4,400 trucks protest across NZ 

About 4,400 trucks took part in a stand-off on Friday which slowed down much of New Zealand and blockaded 13 cities and towns around the country in a protest against road-user charges.

Police praised motorists for their co-operation during the peak-time protests.

Road Transport Forum Chief Executive Officer Tony Friedlander says to have nearly 20% of New Zealand's commercial transport fleet on the road in support of the forum's position is a stunning result.
 
Convoys of trucks drove into town and city centres to demonstrate their anger at the way the government's higher Road User Charges were brought in. Transport operators say the government raised the charges without warning after promising to give them notice. 
 
Transit New Zealand urged motorists in the main city centres to try and avoid the morning rush hour or if they must travel, allow extra time for their journeys. And it seemed many heeded the call with morning commuter traffic peaking earlier than usual.
 
Transit worked closely with police and local councils but there were still lengthy delays for motorists.

"Because of the sheer volume of trucks it did take longer than planned to clear some centres, which we regret. But the support we have received from the public and in online and other polls has been extraordinary," says Friedlander.

The Minister of Transport Annette King has agreed to set up a working party in two weeks to examine the formula used to set Road User Charges.

"We will be taking a constructive approach, but it is clear from today's protest that the industry wants to see some significant changes in the way they contribute to the costs of roads," says Friedlander."

King is also calling for changes to legislation to be sped up to allow her to give truckies warning of future price increases.

She plans to meet the organisers and plans to get a group together to sort out the issues.

"What I'd like this working group to do is to look at whether the formula is robust and correct cause' we can't continue having this argument on whether it's right or wrong. So the aim is to look as though we are setting prices fairly for our heavy trucks."

There is also another solution being looked at, making changes to the law, which other than giving truckies a month's warning, the rule will also change to stop truckies pre-purchasing, thereby stopping them from ripping off the system.

With road maintenance at nearly a billion dollars a year, the government knows that if truckies don't pay, then drivers will and that King says is not very fair on them.

"What I want to get out of this is a fair allocation of responsibility for the payment of our transport system; it's not fair to load it on the motorists ... most of our cost in terms of maintaining our roads comes from heavy trucks on roads."

Auckland congested

Police estimate around 2,000 trucks converged on central Auckland but say disruption was minimised

The Southern Motorway was backed up over 30 kilometres. Transit asked truckies to keep the fast lane on Auckland motorways free during the protest. They agreed to do that but their convoys were blocking all the other lanes coming into the city.

Regular Auckland motorway commuter Maurice Smythe says some motorists used the far left lane to pass the trucks, giving the truckies the horn and the fingers to show their anger at being held up.

A hold up on the South Eastern Highway had commuters tense as the convoy came to a standstill.

Trucks were nose to tail on the Northern Motorway with all lanes heading into the Auckland central business district are blocked by protesting truckies. They slowed to around five kilometres an hour.

Traffic converged at a main intersection feeding into Nelson Street before heading for a circuit of the central business district.

The Road Transport Forum estimates around 300 trucks came together. The protest was officially over at 9.30am and truck drivers still on their way into the city were told to turn around.

Police expected congestion would not be completely cleared until about 1pm.

Hamilton protests

Around 500 truckies were in Hamilton alone, holding up traffic for about two and a half hours.

Police say they stopped two drivers for engineering a moving block of both lanes into the central city.

They say the rest of the truckies were well behaved.

Wellington delays

At one point in Wellington the convoy's 15 kilometre drive into the city took more than two hours.

At around 7:10am, the engines were turned on and the trucks started rolling out.

Two separate convoy's totalling 300 trucks made a beeline for the central city, converging on the urban motorway. One convoy came down State Highway One from Paekakariki and another down State Highway Two from Seaview.

By the time the pilot truck made it to the Terrace Tunnel, the trucks at the end of that convoy were still over 10 kilometres away in Petone.

Cars were backed up for miles, as they tried to take the only route into the central city. A police motorcade tried to dispel any chaos and managed to keep things relatively calm.

As the trucks made their way around the city circuit, those in the thick of it made their intentions clear, tooting their horns in protest over the government's sudden hike in Road User Charges.

And it was outside the house of that government, the Beehive, the truckies finally ended up, happy with the message they got through.

Wellington police have thanked motorists for their co-operation during the protest. They say commuter traffic was moving well and in places very quiet because many people travelled into the city before 7am.

Tauranga protest swells

The 300-truck convoy moving through central Tauranga was twice as big as first thought, some coming from the other side of the Kaimai Ranges.

Road Transport Forum regional director Derek Dumber says he did not see one irate commuter and the truckies received huge support.

But a pair of drivers could face charges for stopping traffic on a bridge for more than half an hour.

Their actions have been condemned by police, as well as protest organisers.

Christchurch

Truckie numbers were bigger than the organisers expected in the south but the big numbers didn't bring big delays.

Two hundred big trucks honked their horns down Blenheim Road. It took well over an hour for the convoy to reach town, the city's total turnout put at 600 trucks.

But although traffic wasn't exactly whizzing by, the big rigs didn't bring too many big delays.

Most pedestrians supported the passing truckies but some vented anger at them.

Dunedin

In Dunedin it was much the same story. Around 130 trucks slipped into the central city as pedestrians joined the cause. 

The Dunedin leg of the protest began from Bank Street and Teviot Street. Inspector Alistair Dickie says it's something new for police to deal with, but they planned accordingly and people should try and take the back roads to work.

Truckies say thanks

The trucking industry says it's surprised and overwhelmed by the success of the protest.

Paul Chappel, president of the industry body National Road Carriers, says company owners are firmly behind the demonstration despite the protest costing them a great deal of money.

Chappel says the industry never realised the level of support out there.
 
He says all drivers, not just truckies, have had enough of rising costs.

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