A city council has admitted at an inquest into the death of an Auckland toddler there were problems with its system for flagging problems with manhole covers.
Two-year-old Aisling Symes went missing in West Auckland in October 2009, and was initially feared abducted.
Her body was found in a drain a week after she went missing. Police have told the inquest that she probably stood on a partly open manhole lid which flipped over and she fell in.
In September 2009, Housing New Zealand had reported that the manhole cover was an issue to the then Waitakere City Council.
The inquest was told on Thursday because the cover was on at the time this was reported, the council's call centre operator was not able to treat the job as a priority or emergency.
Contractors were therefore not alerted to fix the manhole cover.
A Housing New Zealand manager told the inquest she called the council in 2008 to advise that the manhole cover had blown off and that this was a health and safety issue that needed attention.
She says less than a month before Aisling was found dead, the problem was still occurring and the council was contacted again, at which time the problem with the manhole appeared to be fixed.
The coroner asked the manager what Housing New Zealand had done to ensure the tenant's safety. She replied that apart from the calls, nothing had been done.
Neighbour Sonya Latham told the inquest the lid often lifted off the manhole because the drain would flood in heavy rain.
Ms Latham says she worried about her own child falling in and had called the Waitakere City Council several times to complain.
A senior police officer told the Coroner she would like to see councils put netting underneath manhole covers to prevent another similar tragedy.
The city council has been amalgamated into the Auckland Council, which says it now treats every call about a manhole problem as urgent.
Angela Symes, the mother of Aisling, was comforted as she sat at the back of the court quietly crying during the evidence on Thursday.
