When Joe got outside he discovered there was a 2 metre eastern brown snake stretched out covering an entire lane of the driveway.

“I approached with caution,” said former police officer Mr Papalia.

“I was quite nervous about the location of the snake, it was quite still but it was very close to a pipe that went into the shop..

“There were also quite a lot of people in town at the time,” he said.

Mr Papalia tried to contact a local snake catcher, but was unable to, so he decided to call the police.

He also noticed the new officer of Delegate Police, Constable Scott Brotherton was inside the shop, so he gave him a ring on his mobile as well.

“A short time later police arrived at the scene,” Mr Papalia said.

Bombala police officer, Snr Constable Steve Gay then attempted to lift the brown snake into a lying down wheelie bin with a three metre metal pole, which took several attempts.

“I waited until the entire snake was in the bin, then I stood the bin up, closed the lid and sealed it down with tape,” he said.

“The snake was then returned to the Coolangubra State Forest with a police escort and released.

“No person was injured and there was no damage to property.

“It all went quite well to be honest,” Mr Papalia said.