Sitting next to his dead colleague as their work van started filling with water after plunging off a bridge, Ashley Donkersley thought he was going to die.

A Tauranga doctor caught driving drunk after fleeing police and crashing into a building has been sentenced to supervision and community work.

The pregnant partner of a man killed when his van plunged off a highway bridge in Tauranga will remember him as the "best kind of dad".

A 2-year-old toddler with a serious medical condition who was removed from hospital by his parents has been located and has received medical attention, police say.

Police divers have arrived to look for the driver of a van which plunged into Tauranga Harbour yesterday, as an officer who helped save a passenger is praised.

A rose thorn scratch left a fit and healthy Tauranga man with major organ failure and in a four-month battle to save his life.

A devastated father who claims his son's heart was stolen by a hospital has had a setback in his bid to sue for damages.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is reviewing how it notifies the public about oil spills after a refuelling accident went unreported last week.

An Oropi man who stabbed his neighbour three times during a heated dispute over missing trees and tyres being let down, has been sentenced to eight months' home detention.

Two Bay of Plenty companies are ordered to pay reparation after a man's foot was severed by a winch wire at the Port of Tauranga.

An Auckland bus driver says passengers - including one who tried to use a $100 note for a $1 ride - need to start carrying smaller change for fares.

A jury last night found Witeri Ahomiro Neketai guilty of murdering Tauranga businessman Gary Kimura - but acquitted his associate, Taonui Hiku, of manslaughter.

Bus drivers have been told they should always carry passengers who want to pay with bank notes, even if they don't have enough change.

The free lessons will be offered once a year to Tauranga and Hamilton AA members, who can use them themselves or pass them on to a person of choice.

A bus driver who refused to let a child on board because he had $20 to pay his $1.80 fare should never have left that passenger behind, unions representing drivers say.