If your Warrant of Fitness (WOF) has expired during New Zealand's latest COVID-19 lockdown, don't worry - police officers will use their discretion when it comes to fining you.
That's the official word from the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), which says it's also looking at whether exemptions may be needed if the current lockdown goes for longer.
New Zealand's nationwide alert level 4 lockdown lifted at 11:59pm on Tuesday but Auckland, the epicentre of the current COVID-19 outbreak, will remain at that level for at least another two weeks. The rest of the country (excluding Northland, which will drop to level 3 on Wednesday night) is at alert level 3.
That means non-essential businesses remain closed in Auckland, preventing people from renewing their WOFs.
But Waka Kotahi NZTA is reassuring drivers if a WOF, certificate of fitness, or driver licence is expired by a few days as a result of heightened alert levels - police officers won't fine you like they normally would.
"We have worked with police to come to an understanding that police will act with discretion during lockdown," a spokesperson said.
"The priority is safety, not paperwork, and we want to remind vehicle owners and operators that they have a duty to ensure the vehicle is safe. Police will act where they find unsafe vehicles."
Waka Kotahi was also considering exemptions, the spokesperson said.
"We are constructively working with the Ministry of Transport on how we can effectively support road users to get back to compliance once we’ve got further information such as the length of the lockdown, the number of vehicles and drivers impacted, the capacity of the agent network and certifiers to support clearing the lockdown backlog, and the time period for any exemption."
Amid last year's national COVID-19 lockdown, all expired driver's licences, WOFs and COFs were made valid until October.
