An abandoned ute stuck in the mud at Auckland’s Flounder Bay for weeks has finally been moved by a salvage and dive team.
Puketāpapa local board member Jon Turner said he discovered the ute on March 6, when a group went down to the beach to do a Seaweek clean-up.
Turner put up a post on the local Facebook page, asking about the owners, as well as contacting police, but then found out on Monday the ute still had not been moved.
“A four wheel drive club came down to the beach to see if they could get it out, but they said there was no chance,” Turner said, due to the ute being bogged 400m from the boat ramp.
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Turner believes the ute may have been used as a place to cast out nets from while flounder fishing, which is very common at Flounder Bay.
“Because of all the silt we’ve had from the storms, they probably weren’t able to get in and got bogged,” he said.
Turner was worried about “environmental issues” the ute’s diesel might have caused if it leaked, as well as kids who may try and play on it.
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After three weeks at sea, this ute has finally made it back to land.
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The ute has been stuck at Flounder’s Bay for three weeks.
“The sooner it goes the better, the Manukau Harbour is a nice place to be and shouldn’t have to deal with things like this,” he said.
The Auckland’s harbourmaster told Stuff they were aware of the bogged ute, and had a plan to remove the ute last week.
“We’ve been working with the owner to find a solution to get it recovered – which proved to be extremely difficult because of how far out from the ramp it was,” a spokesperson said.
“Several tow companies were approached, but refused to attempt it.”
Eventually, the harbourmaster team received confirmation from a salvage and dive company that planned to airbag the vehicle and float it back into the ramp.
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The ute has been stuck at Flounder’s Bay for three weeks.
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A dive and salvage team had to rescue the ute, as no insurance companies would touch it.
On Thursday, the ute was finally back on land, thanks to the dive team who used huge buoys to float the vehicle back to the ramp and onto the shore.
The whole operation took five hours to complete.
Police were told about ute on March 16, and notified the registered owner of the vehicle.
“In such instances it is the owner’s responsibility around vehicle recovery,” a police spokesperson said.
“The owner has previously advised police it will be removed and we will look to remind them of this. Ultimately this is a council issue.”
