Police have apologised to the Transport Agency (NZTA) over their account of what happened after a roadworker's death in Wellington.
Road policing director Superintendent Steve Greally apologised to NZTA for the way the agency was represented. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
Originally, police said the agency did not want to bring in a ban on the type of handbrake that failed in the fatality, because it would impinge on truckers.
This prompted the man's family to accuse the agency of "carelessness and callousness".
A new OIA shows police headquarters then intervened, apologising to NZTA and telling RNZ that the original account was inaccurate, but without providing an alternative, accurate account of its discussions with NZTA.
Joji Bilo, 25, was killed by a runaway truck while at a resealing job on State Highway 1 late at night in Ngauranga Gorge two years ago.
Three companies and one man are being prosecuted on health and safety charges over his death.
Wellington police investigated and last month gave RNZ a detailed account that shows they struggled to get NZTA to ban the Sanwa Seiki-model handbrakes.
A police serious crash analyst wrote that the agency was not prepared to bring in the ban by the end of 2019 "as it could impact truck operators", and instead chose a "prolonged outcome".
South Island police had been asking for action over this type of handbrake for years prior to 2019, industry insiders have told RNZ.
Asked what was inaccurate in the crash analyst's account, police yesterday told RNZ the original account from Wellington police "was based on one workgroup's perceived understanding of the situation without considering the national approach to this issue in its entirety".
A new OIA response from them also shows that police objected that the analyst's account to RNZ "had not gone through the Police National Headquarters review process".
Road policing director superintendent Steve Greally apologised to NZTA for the way the agency was represented.
"This instance was not a representation of the positive, collaborative relationship between Police and Waka Kotahi, and does not represent discussions undertaken in relation to this matter," Greally told the agency's senior manager of road safety, Fabian Marsh, last month.
The new OIA shows the two agencies discussed how to respond to RNZ's questions.
A police team leader of strategic communications advised NZTA that police were "creating a response that would be attributed to me as the Director of the National Road Policing Centre", Greally said.
A separate OIA to the Transport Agency shows that seven months after Bilo died, in October 2019, NZTA met with police to tell them there were very few replacement parts available for the dodgy handbrake valves, so it would have to consider "further options".
Under any ban, the valves would all have to be replaced or the truck taken off the road when it came in for its six-month Certificate of Fitness check.
Other families caught up in serious road crashes have previously criticised how police, Transport Agency and WorkSafe co-ordinate, including two Tapanui women who fought for years to exonerate their husbands who died in a truck crash in 2013.
Health and safety prosecutions are underway over the death of Bilo.
Fulton Hogan, Wellington Contracting Limited and Shuttle Express Limited all face two charges each, and Ritesh Kumar one charge around the duty of care to keep people safe.
The court hearing has been repeatedly adjourned, to the frustration of Bilo's family.