Police urge caution on Southland beaches
As the weather warms up and Southlanders begin flocking to the beach, Police are reminding people of an important fact – beaches are roads and need to be treated as such.
Senior Sergeant Scott MacKenzie, Southland Area Road Policing Manager, says while it is legal to drive on Oreti Beach, you still need to adhere to the road rules.
“The beach has a speed limit of 30k/h – there is no excuse to be over this limit.
The days are getting warmer and with school holidays it can be expected that a lot of families with small children and animals will be heading to the beach to enjoy the sun."
“Anyone driving on the beach needs to be mindful of this, and stay focused on your surroundings,” he says.
The risks of injury or worse, to yourself or others, are just the same as on traditional roads.
Senior Sergeant MacKenzie also reminds beach goers that any form of antisocial road-user behaviour will not be tolerated.
“Some people seem to think that road rules don’t apply to you when on the beach – this is not the case.
Antisocial driving behaviour is unacceptable, on and off the beach, and we encourage the community to report the driving behaviour immediately."
“It is best to make a report while the incident is occurring to allow our staff the opportunity to respond immediately and hopefully disrupt any offenders in the act.
Please take note of as much detail as possible, such as registration number of the vehicle, any identifying features of the vehicle and its driver, or even take a video of the driving behaviour if safe to do so,” he says.
You can report information to us by calling 111 if it is happening now, or through 105 for non-emergencies.
Alternatively, you can report information anonymously through Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.
Scam Alert: Fake information regarding December Bonuses from MSD
The Ministry of Social Development is reporting that fake information is circulating about new ‘December bonuses’ or ‘benefit increases’
If you get suspicious communication, please contact Netsafe.
Poll: Do you set New Year’s resolutions?
🎉 2026 is almost here!
We’re curious ... how do you welcome it?
Do you set resolutions, follow special traditions, or just go with the flow?
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10% Yes! New Year, New Me
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16.9% Yes - but I rarely stick to them
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73.2% Nah - not for me
Update to Neighbourly members on data breach 06/01/2025 8am
Yesterday in the High Court at Auckland, Neighbourly was successful in being granted an injunction against any unauthorised use of the data taken in a recent breach.
As we alerted you on January 1 and confirmed on January 3, our systems were accessed illegally and members’ information, including names, email addresses, GPS coordinates from the address you provided to us, forum posts and direct member communications were among the data that was accessed.
We acted immediately upon hearing of a potential breach: we temporarily disabled the site, notified members and authorities and worked with our external security consultants to understand if and how it had occurred. We then confirmed the breach with members, safely restored the site to service and began the process of seeking the injunction. Yesterday’s decision by Justice Johnstone prohibits the use of the data by any unauthorised person, and requires them to permanently delete it, or any information obtained from it.
This does not mean that vigilance against scammers is not still required: there is a large industry globally that seeks to use stolen information for identity fraud or to dupe people into providing details of their financial affairs for theft. Again, to keep yourself safe from scammers it is critical that you:
- Don’t click links in emails. Instead, type the web address directly into your browser. This helps ensure you’re visiting a real site, not a fake one
- Enable two-factor authentication where available as this adds an extra layer of security to your data
- Stay alert for phishing emails. Be cautious of unexpected emails asking for personal information, especially ones that create a sense of urgency.
Again, we want to apologise to you for this illegal access to the Neighbourly database and to assure you that we have carefully worked through how this occurred. We have safely secured the site and its services for use and ensured we have robust processes in place so this cannot happen again.
We are continuing to work with the relevant authorities, including the National Cyber Security Centre, on any further steps we need to take.
If you have any further questions please contact us via our customer support team at helpdesk@neighbourly.co.nz.
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