Maths teacher puzzled after ordering 60cm ruler to find metres of brown paper to protect it

A MATHS teacher was stunned when he ordered a 60cm steel ruler — and it arrived wrapped in 26ft of brown paper.

Dad-of-one Barney Maunder-Taylor, 42, bought the maths instrument on eBay.

But the overzealous private seller packed it off in a 3ft by 1ft cardboard box stuffed with reams of brown paper.

Barney, who lives with wife Chrissie and daughter Anastasia, said: “As I took the box into the house I told my wife and daughter ‘you’re not going to believe this’.

“They crowded round as I opened the package and we were in fits of giggles. But then I started thinking about the waste and the environmental impact.

“By reducing the packaging you could free up lots of space in the van which could mean fewer deliveries.”

Barney, who runs educational workshop company House of Maths in Bournemouth, ordered the ruler to help him build 3D shapes.

But he says the brown paper has not totally gone to waste — as the family’s two pet rabbits love playing and nibbling on it.

The responsibility for packaging items sold on eBay lies with the seller.