INCREDIBLE footage has emerged of a young man calmly walking into a New Zealand petrol station with a metal rod sticking out of his head.

CCTV footage obtained by TV station 3 News shows the 23-year-old man arriving at the Caltex to call for help after being assaulted.

Staff and customers initially thought it was a prank. “I was like, ‘Man is this a TV show? Is this guy for real?’” Katikati Caltex owner Lester Gray told 3 News.

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“It looked like a Halloween stunt where people wear those Halloween costumes over their heads, but it was pretty real when he turned around and blood was coming down the side of his head.”

The man was allegedly punched in the head and hit with the steel rod while he sat in his parked car about four blocks away.

He managed to drive himself to the petrol station, where people couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Witness Dylan Shea was at the counter with his friends when the man walked in.

“He just walked in with the rod in his head and I was just like, ‘Is that a drum stick in your head?’” he told 3 News. “And he was like, ‘Nah, it’s a rod.’”

Mr Shea said the man was remarkably calm. “He wasn’t freaking out or anything. He knew what had gone wrong and he said he knew his first-aid and that, so he didn’t try to rip it out or anything,” he said.

“The sharp part of the tyre iron was in his temple. He’s real lucky, lucky that it didn’t go any deeper. All my other mates were freaking out. I stayed reasonably calm, but they don’t really like that gory stuff.”

The victim was taken to a local hospital to have the rod removed and is in a serious but stable condition, 3 News reported. Police are speaking to witnesses.