Police are committed to creating no unreasonable delays at Northland border checkpoints, but if you look like a holidaymaker, they're warning you'll very likely be stopped.
Northland District Commander superintendent Tony Hill told Checkpoint not every car will be stopped on the way north.
"That's not our intention to stop every car and we don't think that's realistic, but we do want to try and stop every car that's coming out of Auckland just to check they are complying with the notice."
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For people crossing the boundary often for work, Hill said proof of address would help them move along quickly.
He has asked people travelling on holiday from Auckland to be "honest and genuine" to avoid wasting time. He suggested bank statements or documents that are sent to the address in Northland, rather than a rates bill - in order to differentiate bach owners from residents.
Police will be at the Auckland-Northland border a little before travel between the two regions resumes tonight at 11.59pm
"We're going to let things like trucks, buses, what looks like essential services drive on by, and we're going to pull people over that look like they might be coming to Northland to holiday," Hill said.
It would include vehicles with groups of people in them, caravans, vehicles towing boats or loaded trailers that would be stopped for a chat.
"We're not intending to have testing on site. We might be able to send them back somewhere to get a negative test. We don't want to provide those services on the line."
Hill said police were committing to no unreasonable delays at the border checkpoints into Northland, but could not define what was unreasonable.
He said going by modelling, police hoped to finish a single car's 'stop and check' in under a minute, but it could go up to three minutes if people did not have the correct documentation or evidence.
"Our intent is about making sure that we get traffic to flow as smoothly as we possibly can at the same time as trying to keep Northland safe."
Hill said in initial days, sworn constables and officers in higher ranks would man the checkpoints, but later recruits could be deployed.
He could not guarantee that there would not be delays on the motorway, and he apologised in advance for it.