More than a dozen motorists had a long trip home on Monday night when their tyres were punctured by nails strewn across the Pioneer Highway (State Highway 56), south of Palmerston North.
The road was busy as nearly 15,000 speedway fans were headed home from the sold out Superstock Teams Championship Finals in nearby Robertson Prestige International Speedway.
Rhys Murrihy said he was driving back from the event just after 10pm when he noticed some cars parked up on the side of the road.
“We passed a couple going through then we heard bang, bang, pop. There was another guy just ahead of us, he pulled over with a flat tyre and one of the other guys came past and said there was another 10 [cars] just up by the Challenge service station just up the road,” Murrihy said.
The manager of Palmerston North tyre firm Tremaine Tyres and Wheels came to his rescue, bringing a spare wheel which helped him get back to Palmerston North, Murrihy said. It would be nearly 3am before he made it home with two new tyres and $600 out of pocket.
He found two Z-nails – a double ended nail bent at two right angles – embedded in each of his front tyres, he said.
“It pretty much wrecked one tyre through the sidewall and the other tyre, that went through the middle so that could be repaired but since only had one spare, we had two flat tyres, so we were stuck on the side of the highway with nowhere to go.”
Other motorists posting about the incident on social media also reported finding the distinctive building product in their tyres.
