Metal pole badly mounted in pavement was not the work of ‘Warnborough Council’
What was claimed
A photo shows the recent work of ‘Warnborough Council’ where a metal pole has been incorrectly screwed onto the pavement.
Our verdict
Warnborough Council does not exist and the photo has been shared online and in the US since August 2022. Hampshire County Council, who are responsible for maintenance in the Warnborough area, said that this does not relate to their equipment.
A Facebook post with thousands of shares shows a metal pole that has been incorrectly screwed into the pavement and claims it is the recent work of ‘Warnborough Council’. This is not true.
The post, which appeared on 13 July and has over 14,000 likes, says: “4000 years ago the Egyptians built the Pyramids, which still remain standing today. Last week, Warnborough Council completed the following job.”
The image shows the base of a metal pole that has holes for four screws to attach it to a block on the pavement. While one screw has been drilled into the assigned hole, the other three screws have clearly been incorrectly drilled around the edge of the base.
We don’t know where the image was taken, but it is not the work of ‘Warnborough Council’, which does not exist. North and South Warnborough are two villages in Hampshire. Hampshire County Council is responsible for this type of work in the villages.
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A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council told Full Fact: “Please be advised that this image is not related to any equipment maintained by Hampshire County Council.”
A reverse image search shows that the image has been circulating online, and has been shared by several accounts that appear to be based in the US. The earliest example Full Fact could find was shared by a US account in August 2022.
Full Fact has written many times about posts that make false claims about the time and location that a photo or video was taken, including those of explosions, protests or riots. You can read our guides on how to spot misleading images and videos here and here.
Image courtesy of Brendan and Ruth McCartney
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the image has been circulating online and in the US since 2022 and Hampshire County Council said it does not relate to their equipment.
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