Towbar Makers get NZTA to pay costs of re-certification

Three towbar manufacturers have succeeded in their campaign to get the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to pay for customers’ towbar re-certifications after an NZTA approved certifier had his certification revoked by NZTA.

“Steve Haszard, Managing Partner of Meredith Connell who are the lawyers for NZTA, called me and said that he was coming to Auckland to meet with me today after an urgent meeting of the NZTA board this morning,” said Shirley Aro, Director of Aro Bros and one of the signatories to the letter to NZTA.

“At that meeting, we understand the Board made a decision that NZTA would pay for all towbar re-certifications.

“We are putting out this statement because affected towbar owners are continuing to get in touch with us and we wanted to give them the good news as soon as possible.

“We are really pleased that the NZTA Board intervened and that common sense prevailed. New Zealand is a country of small businesses and nobody wants or needs the stress that we have been through. It is good to have some positive news to tell our customers for a change” said Ms Aro.

“This decision comes six weeks after our customers were first told by NZTA that they had to pay for their towbars to be re-certified, and after we first wrote to NZTA with our concerns. Over the past six weeks, we have had customers very stressed and asking us why their towbars need to be re-certified, or telling us that they can’t find a NZTA certifier over the summer holidays, or that they want us to pay for their re-certifications. It has been an incredibly stressful time for us all,” said Ms Aro.

“We started this campaign because NZTA were not telling us anything. It was only after we got expert advice and we wrote again to NZTA and involved media, that common sense prevailed.

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