• Police say road spikes accidentally left on a patrol car’s roof fell onto Auckland’s Southern Motorway.
• Seven vehicles were damaged, and police will reimburse affected motorists.
• Officers will be retaught proper spike, says Inspector Jim Wilson.

Police say an officer accidentally left road spikes on the roof of a patrol car and drove off, causing them to fall onto a busy Auckland motorway and damaging seven vehicles.

Officers are also going to be retaught proper use of spikes.

The incident happened about 3.30am today on the Southern Motorway.

The spikes deflated the tyres of several vehicles.

Inspector Jim Wilson, Auckland City East area commander, said: “This is a regrettable situation and our staff have made a genuine mistake”.

Police are paying for the damage done, Wilson said.

“Police have obtained the details of all those impacted and will go through the reimbursement process,” he said.

“As a result, we will be having further discussions with our staff highlighting the learnings from this incident around storage of Tactical Deflation Devices (TDDs).”

Wilson explained the circumstances leading to the mistake.

“Before 3.30am [today], some of our ... staff responded to a call at a Greenlane business and arrested a man who had a warrant for his arrest.

“While putting the man into their vehicle, staff moved some equipment but unfortunately left the [spikes] on the roof.

“After getting the man ready for transport, the staff neglected to put the TDDs back into the vehicle.

“When the unit entered the motorway network at Greenlane, the TDDs have fallen onto the road.

Police later found out seven vehicles had hit the spikes and some tyres had been deflated.

Police swept the motorway to prevent any further damage.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.