NEW ZEALAND, December 14 - Please attribute to a Police spokesperson: 

The lifting of Auckland’s checkpoints in both south and north Tāmaki Makaurau last night went smoothly with minimal delays to traffic.

There was a small queue of cars waiting from between 11pm and midnight, Police estimate less than 100 cars at each of the main borders (Mercer and Te Hana).

This morning traffic appears to be flowing freely however, we expect it to start building as normal for peak hour traffic.

In Northland, the checkpoints have seen minimal traffic through and no issues overnight.

Again, traffic is starting to build due to the time of morning so Police will be keeping a close eye on this to ensure there are no significant delays.

We will provide a further update later this morning.

ENDS

Shelley Nahr/NZ Police