MEDIA RELEASE
13 December 2018
WOF ALERT – Sunnybrae Auto Services and Stephen Upson immediately suspended from issuing WoFs
The NZ Transport Agency has immediately suspended Auckland-based vehicle inspector Stephen Upson and his inspecting
organisation Sunnybrae Auto Services.
In November this year, Mr Upson was found to have allowed two unauthorised people to carry out Warrant of Fitness
inspections on his behalf. He also failed to correctly identify issues with a vehicle’s brakes, exhaust and steering. In
addition, Sunnybrae had some vehicle testing equipment which was either overdue for maintenance or broken.
We are unaware of specific concerns relating to individual vehicles however, due to the poor quality of Mr Upson’s
inspections there is a possibility that some vehicles may have been incorrectly passed. For this reason we strongly
encourage people who have a current Warrant of Fitness issued by Sunnybrae Auto Services to get their vehicle rechecked.
The NZ Transport Agency will contact all 747 affected vehicle owners individually as soon as possible to advise them on
recheck options. Vouchers will be provided.
There will be no further comment on this alert.
Note for customers:
The NZ Transport Agency has records of all WoF inspections. Should we have any concerns about the inspection and
certification of your vehicle’s WoF we will contact you directly by both phone and letter, using the personal
information recorded on the vehicle owner’s file.
If you have moved address or changed contact number in the past year and have not updated this, please do so by phoning
the Transport Agency on 0800 108 809.
On our website we have further information about the regulatory compliance review and warrant of fitness information for customers.