Sophie Hucker, a teacher from Tauranga, New Zealand, was baffled after spotting a giant metal pole in her driveway with no explanation.
Hucker returned home from work to discover a 6.5-foot tall steel pole planted into the ground. She went online to request people to help her find answers for the random pole appearance.
At first glance, the pole was covered in plastic and she assumed it was part of a basketball hoop that was delivered to the wrong address. However, she wasn’t able to move it and she spent days trying to figure out what the item was.
She later thought it was sent by mistake by a tradesman and Hucker was right with her final guess. It was an anchor pole for a gate that was meant to be installed at a house nearby.
Hucker explained that the company reached out to her after learning about her story and realized it was their mistake. “They laughed about it and were baffled as to how they managed to get it wrong,” Hucker said.
The company sent over a tradesman and had the pole removed from her driveway. They were polite and quick to remove the object so Hucker kept their company name anonymous. “It’s a bit weird now the pole has gone,” she joked.
Before this company came forward, the search for answers did pick up steam and the Tauranga City Council was ready to get building approvals and check the CCTV to find the reason for this mysterious appearance.
Hucker also thought it may have been a special gift for her fourth anniversary of her owning the home. It would have been a very expensive prank and to transport this heavy pole may not have been worth the few laughs.
The company responsible for the error has filled in the hole with cement and will come back to complete the surface so it matches the rest of the driveway. They will be keeping the pole for their future needs.