Photo: Kim Baker Wilson / RNZ
Police wanted a trucker, who was jailed for three years for manslaughter on Thursday, to lose his operating licence years before his dodgy truck rolled backwards, fatally hitting a roadworker.
Twice moves were made to take the Transport Service Licence off Auckland company director Ashik Ali.
NZTA was going to, but then pulled back, official documents released to RNZ showed.
Ali's submissions in mid-2021, arguing to keep his licence, included pledging his company would no longer operate the truck that later rolled away.
Johnathon Walters was run over at night at roadworks in a Remuera street in May 2024, when the brakes on Ali's parked and loaded truck failed.
The records released under the Official Information Act showed Ali ran trucks that were unsafe for a long time.
Ali, 56, pleaded guilty in mid-2025.
Walters' whanau told the court this week they worried for family members doing similar work.
"Because of your actions, I now carry a consistent anxiety that they too may go to work one day and not return to their whanau," sister Karin Fraser told Ali.
The circumstances of Walters' death infuriated the trucking industry.
"This must be a turningpoint" for the road safety system, the National Road Carriers Association said previously.
"Mr Ali had too many encounters with it, yet this still occurred," association chief executive Justin Tighe-Umbers said, after the sentencing. "The regulator needs stronger powers, not least the ability to impound trucks.
"Mr Ali's defence lawyer described how Mr Ali was in a bind - 'He couldn't afford to keep his truck roadworthy and he also couldn't afford to turn away work'.
"No, what he couldn't afford was to cause the death of another human being and to go to prison for three years."
He hoped it would deter others.
NZTA rejected the association's contention that [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/systemic-failure-killed-johnathon-walters-ckzkc/
systemic failure killed Walters].
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