A KwaZulu-Natal motorist found a novel way of ensuring their car would not easily be stolen – by chaining it to a light pole.
The sight on a busy Glenwood street made estate agent Trudy Beetge make a u-turn to photograph the extraordinary safety measure used by the owner of the blue Ford Fiesta.
Beetge had collected her daughter from school when she spotted the car parked along the road.
"My first thought was: 'No way,'" she said.
"I went to park behind it and took the photo to share with my friends. I laughed all the way home."
The photo had been shared extensively since it was posted on Tuesday.
Among the comments in response to the car owner's initiative was a man who claimed his father had been doing this for almost 70 years and had never had a car stolen.
Another noted that this could save her a lot of money in insurance premiums.
The photo was also shared on the Facebook group "My FORD was broken into South Africa", which has almost 13 000 members.
News24, in April, reported that Ford owners were up in arms after their vehicles were seemingly targeted owing to their easy-to-break locks and other faulty security features.
The members claimed their vehicles, mostly the Fiesta and EcoSport ranges, were broken into at parking lots and at shopping centres.
At the time, the company had tweeted a video response in which Craig von Essen, corporate transformation manager, said that newer EcoSport and Fiesta vehicles were not affected. According to him, older models were targeted by criminals.
He said Ford regretted the inconvenience and would launch some enhancements.
