A teenage driver escaped unscathed after his poorly maintained car crashed into a fence last night in St Clair.
A Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said it received a report of a car having crashed into a power pole about 11.55pm.
They arrived on the scene and found all occupants were out of the car and none were injured.
Two crews attended, from Lookout Point and St Kilda stations and left the scene in the hands of police at about 12.10am.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond said a 17-year-old male crashed his car into a fence on Bedford St after his brakes failed driving down the hill while he was attempting to give way to on coming traffic.
There was moderate damage to the man’s car and the crash likely occurred due to its unsafe condition, including bald tyres and damaged brakes, Snr Sgt Bond said.
The car was pink-stickered and an investigation was on going, Snr Sgt Bond said.
A Bedford St resident said he did not hear the crash, but saw the damage when he went out in the morning to inspect the fence which he saw had been ‘‘smashed in’’.
The street was ‘‘a bit too narrow’’ and there was not enough room for traffic to pass parked cars a lot of the time, he said.
He wasn’t sure if the car hit the power pole or not, but said if it didn’t, it came ‘‘bloody close’’.
There were pieces of the car’s bumper shattered into about a dozen pieces.
He was confident it was a silver car from the nineties, given the faded state of the broken plastic, he said.
