Recovery of vehicles from the Christchurch CBD is continuing with 1536 vehicles recovered to date by police and USAR teams. Thirty-eight vehicles were recovered yesterday evening from the Manchester St carpark, with recovery due to start today at the Lichfield St carpark.

"We are making excellent progress and we would like to thank members of the public for their patience during the course of this operation. It is a big job and there were – and still are – literally thousands of cars that were in the CBD at the time of the earthquake," says Senior Sergeant Graham Reeves, who is managing Vehicle Recovery.

"We understand the frustrations that people are facing without their vehicles, particularly if they are a one-car family or rely on their vehicle for work. We will do everything possible to retrieve their vehicles as soon as we reasonably can.

"We are working in an extremely difficult environment where regular safety assessments are undertaken to ensure that we can safely remove vehicles. These assessments are ongoing and are critical to ensure the safety of everyone involved."

Cars in streets, open spaces and private or underground carparks:

Senior Sergeant Reeves says the operation has progressed to the point where teams of Police and USAR are now examining the cordoned area grid by grid, identifying vehicles parked in streets, open spaces and private or underground carparks.

"If you have a car parked in one of these areas and you haven't already given us your keys, please bring them, proof of ownership and identity so that we can register your vehicle and key.

"We will progressively bring cars out of these areas over the coming days and the week ahead."

Vehicle owners are asked to come to the Police Vehicle Recovery Site with their keys and identification. This is now located in the first building on the right of the Armagh St entrance to Hagley Park. People can do this between 7am and 8pm each day.

Senior Sergeant Reeves says vehicle owners will be notified once the car has been brought out of the cordoned area. He says it will be kept in a secure carpark which is patrolled 24 hours a day until the owner comes to retrieve it.

Please note this may take some days but this is being done as quickly as possible.

Retrieval from Lichfield Carpark:

This carpark is located at 33 Lichfield St, near Oxford Tce, and includes the area adjacent to Ballantynes.

Owners should assemble in the white tent in the CPIT car park on the corner of Barbadoes Street and Moorhouse Avenue at 5pm today, Wednesday 23 March Owners will hand keys to Police and wait in the tent while the vehicle is retrieved by the Police team. Owners who haven't yet registered their vehicles should do so via the home page of www.police.govt.nz.

It is important to stress that this car park is in the 'red zone' of the city with extra safety precautions in place to facilitate recovery. It is important that owners also note the following:
• Bring keys to the vehicle.
• Bring ID and proof of ownership.
• If collecting on behalf of the owner bring a letter of authorisation.
• Be dropped off as there is no parking available.
• One person to be dropped off per vehicle as space is limited.
• Shelter and toilet will be provided.
• No member of the public/owner will be allowed into the cordon area to retrieve their own vehicle for safety reasons.
• Car park clearance is subject to final engineer's clearance on the day.
• Only go to the assembly point on the day your specific car park is being cleared.
• Vehicles will not be recovered from other locations that are not specified.
• Please be patient.

Please be reassured that owners will not be required to retrieve their vehicles from within the cordoned area; the vehicles will be retrieved by members of Police, New Zealand Defence Force and USAR and returned to owners at the CPIT carpark.

Retrieval from Heritage Hotel and ANZ Carparks:

Vehicles located in the Heritage Hotel Carpark in the South East Corner of Cathedral Square, and the ANZ underground carpark on the corner of Colombo and Hereford Streets will be retrieved between 5pm and 6pm tomorrow evening, Thursday 25 March. The details for owners are the same as for Lichfield St carpark above.

Second sweep of public carparks:

Police are continuing to clear public car parking buildings and in the next few days will start a second sweep of some of the carparks that have already been partially cleared of vehicles.

"If you missed the initial slot with these carparks for whatever reason, please now bring your keys, proof of ownership and identification to the Hagley Park site so that we can progressively bring those cars out over the coming days and week."

If you have a query about the recovery of your vehicle, please check out the Frequently Asked Questions at www.police.govt.nz/vehicle-recovery/FAQs or email the Vehicle Recovery Team at chchvehiclerecovery@police.govt.nz.

"Unfortunately, we are not able to contact all vehicle owners personally, so please continue to check the police website (www.police.govt.nz) for information about when the areas being cleared of vehicles."

For media inquiries only call Christchurch Media Liaison Team: 027 432 0960 or ChchPoliceMediaLiason@police.govt.nz

Please view the full news release online at:

http://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/27545.html

Thanks,

New Zealand Police

ENDS

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