Inquiries ongoing into Aucklander’s lockdown trip to Taranaki

Police are still making inquiries into a lockdown trip after an Aucklander was arrested after he had a medical event at a Taranaki petrol station and ended up in hospital.

The man was arrested at Taranaki Base Hospital on September 18, after he allegedly used forged documents to leave his Bayview home and cross the alert level boundary last week, while Auckland was still in alert level 4.

The man suffered a medical event, which St John Ambulance staff attended, while at Z Inglewood.

A Z Energy media spokesman said staff at the petrol station were surprised to learn he was from Auckland. The spokesman said that after refuelling the vehicle, which had more than one person in it, moved off the forecourt to an area beside the store not visible to staff.

‘‘After a brief period, an ambulance arrived to respond to a call to what has been reported as a medical incident,’’ he said. The ambulance left the site with no flashing lights or other indication which would have alerted staff to something happening.

‘‘At no stage through this process were the site staff made aware of, nor involved in responding to what occurred and no ambulance staff entered the store.

‘‘It was a surprise to subsequently learn that one of the passengers in the vehicle was reportedly from Auckland and a medical incident had occurred.’’

Z Inglewood had not been contacted by the Ministry of Health.

After being taken to Taranaki Base Hospital, the man told medical staff he had arrived from Auckland a few days prior. Police were then called.

When asked how many people were present in the car and if any of them were from the region, a police media spokeswoman could not answer.

‘‘Inquiries into this incident are ongoing,’’ she said.

The man returned a negative Covid-19 test at the weekend and has since returned to Auckland.

He is expected to appear in the Auckland District Court on October 29 on the charges of failing to comply with a health order and using a forged document.

The breach was one of many by Aucklanders who managed to leave the region while it was in alert level 4.

On Wednesday, couple William John Lawrence Willis, 35, and Hannah Rawnsley, 26, a lawyer, were also charged with failing to comply with a health order after being accused of breaching the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act. The couple were believed to have travelled from Auckland to Wa¯naka on September 9 using essential worker exemptions.

They are set to appear at Papakura District Court on October 14.