Stolen bus shelter pops up on rural roadside

The stolen bus shelter mysteriously reappeared on a Horeke roadside. Photo / Supplied

A Northland bus shelter which became world-famous in New Zealand when it was stolen this month, has been found abandoned on a roadside in South Hokianga.

The steel and perspex shelter was wrenched from its base at the corner of Waimate North Rd and Te Ahu Ahu Rd, inland from the Bay of Islands, and loaded on to a trailer on the night of December 6.

A car towing the missing bus shelter was stopped that night by Kaikohe police but at that stage it had not been reported stolen.

However, police did take the vehicle's details and found it was registered to an address in Horeke, South Hokianga.

A story in the Northern Advocate about the unusually brazen theft was shared by the NZ Herald and thousands of social media users around the country.

The heat appears to have become too much for the thieves because the bus shelter has reappeared, somewhat battered, beside Horeke Rd.

Waimate North woman Philippa Moor, one of the residents who originally applied for the bus shelter, heard about its reappearance on December 19 via social media and, rather than risk it being stolen again, enlisted a group of locals to collect it.

The rather sorry looking shelter has been returned to Totalspan's yard, where it will be re-clad and returned to its rightful place in time for the 2015 school year.

Mrs Moor said the shelter was used by children attending six different schools around the Mid North.

It was one of hundreds around the country donated by Totalspan as part of its Undercover Kids programme.

Any community on a rural bus route can apply for a bus shelter by going to totalspan.co.nz/community-projects.

Two Horeke men have been charged in relation to the theft and will appear in the Kaikohe District Court.