{"id":568615,"date":"2026-08-14T08:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568615\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T08:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:12:10","slug":"wellington-cycleway-vandalism-cctv-shows-pedestrian-leaving-trail-of-destruction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568615\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellington cycleway vandalism: CCTV shows pedestrian leaving trail of destruction"},"content":{"rendered":"

It appears to show a man – believed to be \u201cdrunk\u201d – walking alone along the cycleway next to the motorway just after 2am.<\/p>\n

\"NZTA'sNZTA’s CCTV camera capture a pedestrian on a destructive rampage down the recently opened Te Ara Tupua shared path in Wellington.<\/p>\n

The vandal picks up a boulder from the man-made rocky outcrop that protects the cycleway from the sea, then hurls it at the fencing which separates the path from the adjacent train tracks. The boulder then bounces back and lands on the path. <\/p>\n

Some of the boulders on the outcrop are needed to hold down the lids of penguin boxes, which help shelter little blue penguins along coastal areas. <\/p>\n

The person then continues on their destructive rampage towards the Hutt Valley. <\/p>\n

At 2.11am, the vandal picks up a large traffic cone and swings it around before flinging it down the outcrop. They soon do the same to two more traffic cones further along the path. <\/p>\n

Forty minutes later, cameras capture the vandal on the shared path in Petone, ripping down two sections of safety fence bunting.<\/p>\n

The person was also responsible for knocking down all traffic management signs on SH2 in Petone and disconnecting cables from the bottom of a set of lights, related documents released under the Official Information Act showed. <\/p>\n

The person was described by one staff member as a \u201cdrunk pedestrian\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to the documents, NZTA contacted police to ask a nearby unit to check in on Townsley after he was injured. <\/p>\n

The cyclist told them he was \u201ca bit sore but okay\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Wellington Transport Alliance, which maintains and operates the capital\u2019s state highway network, was not called out to do a sweep of the shared path because Townsley cleared the debris himself. <\/p>\n

Staff said in internal communications he had taken a \u201cnasty tumble over the bars\u201d.<\/p>\n

Townsley was riding his bike to work along the shared path<\/a> later that morning when he crashed into a large rock in the middle of the lane. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing you know, I\u2019m lying on the ground going, \u2018Oh what\u2019s this about?\u2019\u201d he told the Herald at the time.<\/p>\n

\"CyclistCyclist Clarke Townsley said the rocks placed on the path seemed between 25-40cm in size and weighed up to 8kg.<\/p>\n

\u201cI turned around and I saw the rock lying there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fall left him with a grazed elbow, a grazed hip, sore hands and a punctured front tyre.<\/p>\n

He soon realised there were several boulders and a large log that had been left on the path, which is used by cyclists and pedestrians.<\/p>\n

Townsley estimated the rocks ranged from 25-40cm in size and weighed up to 8kg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t like cyclists, that\u2019s okay, but you don\u2019t go out to hurt people \u2013 that\u2019s just malicious,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Townsley\u2019s wife, Kirsten, posted on a local Facebook cycling page that day to warn others about the debris. <\/p>\n

\"PhotosPhotos of the debris were posted to Facebook group Cycle Wellington by Clarke Townsley’s wife Kirsten.<\/p>\n

She said the boulders were placed in dark patches not illuminated by lights on the pathway, leading some commenters to question if the path needed better lighting.<\/p>\n

Townsley did not take issue with the pathway lighting, which he described as \u201cpassive\u201d, but admitted his own cycle lights had no chance of catching the boulders before it was \u201ctoo late\u201d.<\/p>\n

NZTA condemned the vandalism and provided police with the CCTV footage to assist their inquiries.<\/p>\n

Despite NZTA managing to capture a \u201cdecent view\u201d of the perpetrator\u2019s face on one of their cameras, police have not been able to make an arrest.<\/p>\n

\"InIn addition to large rocks, a log was pulled on to the cycle lane of the Te Ara Tupua shared path.<\/p>\n

Police told the Herald they investigated the incident but \u201cdue to exhausting all lines of enquiry the matter has been filed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, if any new information comes to light, police are open to reassessing the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyone who had information on the vandalism is urged to call 105 and reference the file number 260614\/8083.<\/p>\n

In an earlier statement to the Herald, NZTA said it was \u201cextremely disappointed by this, given the danger it poses to shared path users\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ngauranga to Petone shared path has been enjoyed by thousands of people since it opened [in May] and it is deeply frustrating that anyone would choose to behave in such a way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also want to thank other path users for clearing the debris and helping to keep the route safe for the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janhavi Gosavi is a Wellington-based journalist for the New Zealand Herald who covers news in the capital.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It appears to show a man – believed to be \u201cdrunk\u201d – walking alone along the cycleway next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1070,11519,21181,3549,160572,76701,53851,19473,8241,14046,9933,2845,111,43,139,69,1118,33551,10903,12860,418,4129,279977,26995,416,52,4576],"class_list":["post-568615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-bike","tag-causing","tag-cctv","tag-crash","tag-cycleway","tag-destruction","tag-firefighter","tag-footage","tag-himself","tag-hurt","tag-later","tag-leaving","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pedestrian","tag-popular","tag-revealed","tag-shows","tag-trail","tag-vandalising","tag-vandalism","tag-video","tag-wellington","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}