28 July 2023 , 13:47
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A teacher has been left baffled after she returned home to find a "random" two-metre pole cemented into her driveway
Sophie Hucker, from Tauranga, New Zealand, said she didn't realise it was permanent until she tried to move it. The teacher said she asked her neighbours due to her property being positioned on a cross-lease. But they were none the wiser and said it didn't belong to them.
“I thought maybe the neighbours ordered something - maybe it’s a pole for a basketball hoop,” she said. Sophie has since left a note on the plastic-wrapped pole and asked people to get in touch. She now believes it could have been a tradesperson.
Sophie said the pole has made it difficult for her to turn her car (Supplied)
She placed a note on the pole to deter more incidents (Supplied)'I have no idea what this is doing here - please call me,' the note reads. Sophie, who works at Mount Maunganui College, said she wrote the note to deter the culprit from carrying out further work. She also alerted Tauranga City Council but to her surprise, they also had no idea about the metal pole, reports the Bay of Plenty Times.
The teacher wondered whether someone had gifted it as she found the pole on the day of her fourth anniversary of owning the home. Her family initially thought she was at the centre of a prank but Sophie believes it would be too expensive. "I've got no answers," she said.
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"My current conclusion is that some tradies made a big stuff-up and just left it, which is annoying and random." Sophie has complained that the pole has made it more difficult to manoeuvre her car. However, she has been able to see the funny side and joked the culprit could have at least made it a square shape so she could swing on it.
In a bid to get some answers, the teacher posted what had happened on a local Facebook page - which left users in hysterics. Someone asked: "Have you called the pole-ice."
Another commented: "I find this post offensive, can you please remove it?" Sophie is begging the owner to come and retrieve their item from outside of her house. She added: "You've provided a lot of entertainment value for everyone, but can you please come and get rid of it? I do not need that pole."
Tauranga City Council said they checked CCTV to try and clear up the incident but said they found no leads.
Nelita Byrne, Acting General Manager of Community Services told 1News: "There are no current building consents issued against that property.
"We did wonder if there may have been some confusion with another property, given the intersection the property is near. So we checked consents for Vale Street, Ngatai Road and Chapel Street, and there are none that would have any relevance to this incident.
"We’re hoping, like many others, that the post installer will come forward to sort it out. If not, we’ll be calling Ms Hucker next week to see how our team can help with removal."