According to the NZTA, 10,000 Kiwis must have their car repair mandate checked again

The New Zealand transport agency began contacting about 10,000 Kiwis, whose cars may not have been properly checked during their regular physical warrant inspection.

Meredith Connell's law firm is investigating cases involving cars that may not have been properly verified and its managing partner, Steve Haszard, says the owners will be able to have their vehicle checked for free via a voucher from the transport agency ".

He added that Meredith Connell had completed the review of the "most urgent" cases.

"Significant progress has been made and reviews of the most urgent files where public security was potentially at risk have been completed," he said.

"We have made recommendations to the Transport Agency Based on these recommendations and in accordance with the legal procedures in force, the Transport Agency is stepping up its enforcement measures in case of non-compliance. in all areas of regulation under its responsibility. "

Although the public is likely to see more action from the Agency in the coming weeks, the process would still take time because it was "legally bound to follow the prescribed procedure".

"For example, in some complex cases, additional investigations are required to meet the evidentiary requirements or court proceedings are ongoing and must proceed," said Mr. Haszard.

Thousands of Kiwis may have received fitness mandates without their car being properly controlled, prompting strong criticism of the NZTA and its ability to oversee vehicles.

The passenger of the car, William Ball, died in January after breaking a frayed seat belt in a vehicle with a fitness mandate by a Dargaville company.

The NZTA has admitted since 2011 that Dargaville Diesel's specialists did not carry out any critical controls on the part of the WOF, but that, in accordance with the approach adopted at the time, it was more educator only.

The owners of nearly 2,000 vehicles that received mandates from the company were offered to have them rechecked.

Transportation Minister Phil Twyford announced in October that the NZTA's board of directors had called on the law firm Meredith Connell to review 850 ongoing compliance cases and had taken over its compliance function because he had not fulfilled his regulatory responsibilities.

"I officially asked the Ministry of Transport to review the regulatory performance of the NZTA," he said at the time.

"There are a number of issues that need to be resolved to give me assurance, and the public that the NZTA's regulatory performance is being identified and corrected, which is why we are asking for advice on changes to the regulatory function. "

The review is expected to be completed by the end of March next year.