4600 cars recovered

Last updated 16:57 12/04/2011

 

Police have recovered 4613 vehicles  from Christchurch's CBD, and 170 vehicles are still being held at the Vehicle Recovery Centre, at the Armagh Street entrance to Hagley Park.

Police are seeking the owners of the final few vehicles remaining in central Christchurch.

Senior Sergeant Graham Reeves said police were no longer systematically extracting vehicles from car parks, but were working through a process to match up vehicles with keys and owners.

"Structural damage to buildings and damage to vehicles themselves means that in some cases, although we've done everything we possibly can, we haven't been able to retrieve a vehicle. This may be a situation where a building has suffered structural damage or flooding, or the vehicles themselves are significantly damaged and not able to be easily removed," he said.

The basement of the Crown Plaza car park flooded after the earthquake, with water needing to be pumped out, but all vehicles have now been retrieved, he said.

Police are also holding keys for 145 vehicles and are working through a process to identify the status of these vehicles, Reeves said.

"We are continuing to work through the tricky cases now and continue to make every effort to get every car out we can, if the safety of the environment allows it."

Those yet to retrieve their vehicle from the CBD are asked to bring their keys to the Vehicle Recovery Centre on weekdays between 8am and 6pm.

"This has been a huge, combined effort by Police, USAR and engineers. We've worked tirelessly to extract vehicles from the most difficult places. If a vehicle hasn't been retrieved it is because it is in a situation of extreme danger or it's been impossible to extract," Reeves said.