Free firewood sparks traffic carnage

Avoid travelling in the area or expect significant delays was the message as free firewood turned traffic to a standstill around Rabbit Island on Saturday morning.

After Tasman District Council posted on Facebook that free firewood would be available on the corner of Barnicoat Road and Bullivant West Road a huge number of motorists, many with trailers, backed traffic up with police advising to avoid the area if they don't want to face long delays.

With so many people in the queue, it took just 20 minutes for all of the free firewood to be allocated, with the event having originally been planned to run for four hours as a celebration at the end of the month-long Step Out Festival.

A post on the event page, which has over 1000 people interested and over 200 saying they were going, from Step Out Nelson Tasman apologised for anyone who had missed out.

"The demand absolutely exceeded what we expected. We will be taking a lot of learnings from this event."

A NelsonApp reporter stuck in the traffic has seen people with empty trailers being turned away from the queue for wood and police managing the traffic.

One commentor on Facebook says they had waited in line for hours just to be turned away, while another says it was a "real traffic hazard".

On Facebook, Kane Rangi says they have already spent three hours in traffic, having hired a trailer for the event.

"Paying extra for nothing and now, and [sic] are stuck at the back of rabbit island with no way out."

As part of the free firewood day, TDC staff were on site hosts a family-friendly event, there was a sausage sizzle and the Appleby Volunteer Fire Brigade hosted a fun fire safety activity.

If you have any images of the traffic, please send them to NelsonApp on Facebook.