Offroad-Express

The Dominion Post.co.nz wrote:

PHIL REID/The Dominion Post
STUCK: Two drivers who got their four-wheel-drives stuck in the Hutt River have been described as inexperienced "idiots" after one vehicle became stuck and the other was driven in to tow the first one out.

Two drivers who got their four-wheel-drives stuck in the Hutt River have been described as inexperienced "idiots" who did not not know what they were doing.

Police said the first vehicle got stuck overnight on Saturday between Silverstream and Stokes Valley, and was soon joined by a second four-wheel-drive, which was driven into the river to try to tow the other out.

The two trucks spent the night half submerged in the river before being towed out by a third 4WD yesterday.

Wellington's Cross Country Vehicle Club committee member Roger Seymour said there was a track going into the river but it was a recreational area and, at the Greater Wellington regional council's request, no one in a club would drive in.

"It's stupid and pointless and the sort of thing that just shouldn't be done.

"It's like driving on beaches where people walk.

"It's the sort of thing that gives four-wheel driving a bad name."

Another four-wheel-drive club's president, who reported the trucks to police, was disgusted by the drivers' actions and believed they were also responsible for "burnout" marks on the grass above the river.

"The first guy's an idiot and the second one didn't know what they were doing.

"They must have been inexperienced because you just don't go in a river like that. It does too much damage to habitats."

He said four-wheel-drive clubs had to get permits and pay for access to forests or land which was deemed acceptable for driving.