Officials say keeping busy tunnel closed for 45 minutes after man had a poo was justified

Transport officials say they were justified in keeping a tunnel in central Wellington, New Zealand, closed for 45 minutes on Thursday morning after a man was caught defecating inside it. However, the New Zealand Transport Agency says it will now review its response times.

The busy commuter tunnel, which forms part of State Highway 1 through the city, had been scheduled to reopen at 6am on Thursday after being closed for routine maintenance overnight. But just as it was about to reopen, a man jumped down from the walkway and answered the call of nature. A cleanup crew had to be called in, delaying the reopening until 6.45am.



NZTA regional performance manager Mark Owen said the incident happened after the overnight tunnel crew had packed up, and another crew had to be called in to deal with what he called a hygiene and road safety issue. "At the end of the day, this is an unusual and isolated case in which an irresponsible act resulted in a slight delay to a scheduled tunnel reopening," Owen said.

"We'll be looking into whether response times could be improved, although we're hoping there isn't a next time. Effluent of any kind can be dangerous to road users like motorcyclists, as it makes the road surface slippery. This can be especially hazardous inside a tunnel, and we had a responsibility to ensure that the road surface was safe before opening the tunnel to motorists," Owen said. Police said the defecating man was drunk and was taken home without any apparent injuries.