Wellington's Terrace Tunnel closed by two-vehicle crash

The Wellington Terrace Tunnel stand-off is over and, after 10 hours, the man who climbed up on to pipes at the entrance to the tunnel has come down. 

He climbed up there around 1pm on Thursday after being involved in a crash in the tunnel, early reports said he was carrying a knife. 

Police closed the tunnel shortly after the incident and it has caused major traffic problems in the capitol. 

Three double-decker buses were brought in to assist police deal with the man. 

At 8:30pm police said the buses had been brought in to “reduce the drop” to the ground.

Wellington District Commander Inspector Chris Bensemann said police had been negotiating with him to try and bring him down, but due to the nature of where he was were not planning to attempt to get him.

Insp Bensemann said negotiations could take all night.

The 31-year-old man refused food and drink and didn't have a phone. Insp  Bensemann said he was up there for personal reasons.

He said at 4pm the man lay on the pipes and his health appeared to be deteriorating, but since the sun had gone down he seemed to have been revived and was now back on his feet.  

The crash occurred before 12:30pm on Thursday, and the closure is causing major traffic delays in the city. 

At 4.45pm police issued a statement saying that the situation had not yet been resolved, and the man was still standing above the northbound entrance of the motorway.

At 7:30pm the double-decker buses were seen beneath the man in the tunnel. 

Police say they are "speaking to the man involved and working hard to safely resolve the situation".

A witness told NZME after the crash they saw the man "bleeding and stumbling around and we were about to stop and help but then he pulled a massive knife out."

The witness, who wished to remain unnamed said that the man "jumped on top of the median barrier, the wall between the lanes and stumbled around on the top of that".

Newshub.