A meeting for Wellington car enthusiasts drew a low turnout last night after a road roller rammed vehicles at a gathering in Upper Hutt the night before.

Photo: RNZ / Charlotte Cook

Police were called to Eastern Hutt Road in Silverstream about midnight on 27 July after receiving reports that a road roller was being used to damage vehicles gathered in the area.

When they arrived at the scene, officers arrested two men but one was later released from custody.

One person suffered leg injuries involving another vehicle, and another person received facial injuries in an altercation.

The five cars involved have now been towed away from the industrial area.

A member of the car community, Craig, said only about a dozen vehicles gathered last night - at a subsequent event.

"On a good weekend night, typically you can see sort of 50 to 70 cars. I guess a lot of the guys that would normally put something together weren't really interested. Obviously people are really pissed off about it."

Craig said the community was looking after those who were affected.

An eyewitness said there were more than 100 cars and 200 people at the gathering where the incident occurred.

"There was lots of screaming and yelling as 100 cars all tried to leave out of a one-way street at the same time with a roller chasing them."

Another eyewitness said several of the cars that were hit will be complete write-offs. He said the scene was chaotic during the incident.

"The roller came down the hill, started hitting the cars and it's like this is no joke and everyone just started fleeing. It was total chaos, absolute chaos, it was quite terrifying actually to be honest."

A 47-year-old has been charged with interfering with motor vehicles with reckless disregard for people and property, and driving with excess blood alcohol.

He was granted interim name suppression when he appeared in Hutt Valley District Court yesterday.

He has been remanded on bail to reappear in court next month.

The Serious Crash Unit and police are investigating.