Wellington mayor Justin Lester and a colleague are lucky to be unhurt after a large truck lost control and smashed into their car, he says.
The mayor and his chief of staff, Joseph Romanos, were driving back to Wellington from today's Holocaust memorial service at Makara.
They were going up a hill when a truck coming the other way hit the side of a rock wall, Mr Lester said.
"Unfortunately he lost control and crossed the centre line and came straight towards us.
"Usually when you have a truck coming straight towards you and you're in a little electric vehicle, you think the worst and this could be it, but luckily the truck was travelling slowly," Mr Lester said.
He said, while the impact was significant and the car was a write-off, everyone was fine.
"The air bags deployed which helped with the impact but we're OK.
"The car had smoke coming out of it so we both jumped out - we're happy to be able to walk away from it."
