Trolley mystery at Te Puke Anglican Care shop

Te Puke Anglican Care shop manager Gill Ludbrook with the trolley that was taken, then returned.

If the disappearance of the Te Puke Anglican Care Shop trolley last week was a mystery, then its reappearance was equally baffling.

The trolley was taken from outside the shop on the corner of Jocelyn and Queen streets.

''It was sitting outside the shop where we've always left it since the shop has been here - it's always been there with handle hooked on the tap,'' says manager Gill Ludbrook.

''I brought some stuff from our shed at the back down, unloaded it, and left the trolley there ready to take it back up because we're coming and going all day.''

When she popped outside again around 11.30am, it was nowhere to be seen.

''We've had plenty of people ask us if it's for sale but we've never had it taken before.''

She put a post on Facebook about the missing trolley and was contacted the next morning by someone offering to buy a new one for the shop.

Gill arranged to meet the person at the shop the next day and as she walked toward the door, she saw a trolley by the storage shed.

''I thought, this is the new trolley, she's been already and I've missed her.''

But closer inspection revealed it was the old trolley. In broad daylight, the trolley had been returned in just the same condition as when it disappeared.

Gill was able to get a message to the person buying the new trolley, who was already at Te Puke Mitre 10.

''She was on the way out to the car with it, but I was able to meet her - she was really good about it.''

Now the trolley is still kept outside the shop in its usual place, but its handle is padlocked to, rather than hooked over, the tap.